DAILY DIGEST, 10/21: Climate change happening too fast for migrating birds; Lessons from the CA Enviro Flows Framework and opportunities for Chile; The Clean Water Act’s loophole problem; Soil salinization a rising threat; and more …


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On the calendar today …

  • PUBLIC HEARING: Sites Reservoir Water Right Permit beginning at 9am. The State Water Resources Control Board is holding a multi-day public hearing 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. View hearing on the Administrative Hearings Office YouTube channel.
  • WORKSHOP: Indian Wells Valley (Ridgecrest) Groundwater report beginning at 6pm at the Historic USO building, 230 West Ridgecrest Boulevard in Ridgecrest The Indian Wells Valley Water District will present key findings from the District’s Technical Working Group Safe Yield and Groundwater Storage reports, offering an in-depth look at the current state of the Indian Wells Valley groundwater basin. Attendees will also hear a detailed discussion of the Antelope Valley-East Kern (AVEK) Water Pipeline Project, including cost estimates provided by Clean Energy Capital.

In California water news today …

Climate change is happening too fast for migrating birds

“At a glance, the male western tanager looks like a little flame, its ruby head blending seamlessly into its bright lemon-colored body. Females are less showy, a dusty yellow. The birds spend their winters in southern Central America and can be found in a variety of habitats, from the cool cloud forests of central Costa Rica to the deserts of southeastern Sonora in western Mexico. In early March, they prepare to migrate thousands of miles to the conifer forests of the Mountain West, flying through grasslands, deserts and, occasionally, suburban yards.  To fuel them on their lengthy journey, western tanagers fill up on insects and berries. Like most migrating birds, they eat constantly when they’re not in the air. But as global climate change causes spring to start earlier, birds like western tanagers are arriving at their destinations after green-up, when flowers begin blooming and insects emerge. According to a study published in early March in the journal PNAS, this kind of timing mismatch between migrants and their food sources, which is happening across North America, could have dire consequences for migratory birds’ survival. … ”  Read more from High Country News.

Lessons from the California Environmental Flows Framework and opportunities for Chile

“Managing waterways for ecosystems with minimal loss to existing water uses is increasingly difficult. As we’ve discussed in the first two blogs in this series, California and Chile both struggle with this challenge. Both are mostly dry regions with deep economic and human dependence on water and very disrupted and vulnerable native ecosystems. Both also face the dual challenges of droughts and floods.  For the last year, an international collaboration on environmental flows between Chile’s Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) and Universidad de Talca, and the University of California, Davis (UCD) focused on these common issues to draw lessons from California’s experience. The project, titled “Instream Minimum Flows: Experience and Lessons from California to Chile” (ANID Project FOVI 220188), sponsored a March 2024 symposium where faculty from UDD and UCD discussed these problems and potential solutions. … The project supports further investigation of a functional flows approach for Chilean watersheds, implemented through a collaborative portfolio of water management instruments. This blog summarizes the findings of the research group. … ”  Read more from the California Water Blog.

Gaming the system: The Clean Water Act’s loophole problem

“In 1969, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire. After years of unchecked industrial dumping, the river had become so polluted with oil, chemicals, and waste that a stray ember from a passing train ignited its surface, sparking public outrage along with it.  In response, Congress worked to pass the Clean Water Act (CWA), establishing a landmark law designed to regulate pollutants, set water quality standards, and enforce penalties against those responsible for pollution.  Over the past 52 years, the CWA has done a lot to safeguard our nation’s waterways. However, today’s environmental landscape is far more complicated than it was in 1972. Emerging pollutants, like PFAS and microplastics, are adding unforeseen layers of ambiguity, while industrial stormwater pollution remains a persistent problem. Recent U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decisions have further restricted the Act’s scope, making it even more difficult to hold polluters accountable.  As we approach the 52nd anniversary of the CWA, it is a good time to reflect on the Act’s successes, explore the challenges that still lie ahead, and highlight how organizations like ours are navigating these hurdles to continue fighting for the Act’s vision of safe, swimmable, and fishable waters for all. … ”  Read more from the LA Waterkeeper.

Upper Chiquita Reservoir update

“This article is a review of the Upper Chiquita Reservoir project originally constructed in 2011 and today remains one of the largest and most challenging potable-water liner and geomembrane floating cover projects installed in the United States. The reservoir liner and floating cover have been in operation approaching 15 years and a 2024 project inspection confirmed the geosynthetic cover system performing very well as designed. … ”  Read more from Geosynthetics Magazine.

Soil salinization: a rising threat to ecosystems and global food security

“Soil salinization refers to the excess accumulation of salt in soil to a level that affects crop production and ecosystem functioning. This poses serious threats to sustainable agriculture, soil fertility and health, food security, and socio-economic stability.  A new article in Reviews of Geophysics explores the complex dynamics of soil salinization around the globe. We asked the authors to give an overview of soil salinization, its impacts, and what questions remain.   Q: Are certain regions of the world particularly susceptible to soil salinization?  Soil salinization is a global issue but especially prevalent in arid and semi-arid regions. According to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), about one‐third of the world’s irrigated land is affected by salt. … ”  Read more from EOS.

Should white sturgeon be listed as an endangered species in California?

“White sturgeon are found in coastal and anadromous waters in California from the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins north to the Oregon border. They are the largest freshwater fish in North America and can live as long as 100 years.  White sturgeon spawn in large rivers in the Central Valley and mostly reside in the Delta and the San Francisco Bay, They also range along the coast and enter bays and rivers. Many sturgeon have been found in North State rivers.  There are historical records of fish as large as 20 feet, though according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), it is now rare to find any larger than six and a half feet in California waters. In fact, the average white sturgeon captures in the Delta in recent years is 3.6 feet. … ”  Read more from Action News Now.

2024 election: state and local voters consider tax increases for water protection

“Contests for control of the White House and Congress are the main events in the upcoming national elections. Those results will determine the direction of federal water and environmental regulation.  The agenda-setting national races are not the only ones to watch on November 5. At the state and local level, ballot measures give voters an opportunity to influence policy and spending decisions. Several of those measures relate to water.  There are fewer big-dollar measures in 2024 compared to past years. But many smaller considerations dot ballots from New Mexico and Minnesota to Colorado and California. Water infrastructure spending is a typical ballot question, and one that voters generally endorse. Three states and a handful of towns and counties will ask voters to approve funding measures for land conservation, water quality protection, and climate resilience. The biggest outlay would be in California, which has a $10 billion water and climate bond on the ballot. … ”  Read more from the Circle of Blue.

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In commentary today …

Early lessons drawn from the Klamath Dam removal effort

writes, “Dam removal on America’s rivers large and small is lauded in the conservation community as some of the most impactful of environment restoration projects, reversing efforts to tame nature by generations past. So, when the removal of four dams on the lower Klamath River in northern California and southern Oregon was recently heralded by Governor Newsom as “the largest river restoration project in American history,” the press promptly joined in with praise. While the jury is still out with respect to the effort’s success when measured in terms of increased salmonid abundance, there are lessons to be learned now regarding characterization of science pertaining to policy both by scientists in the decision-making process and by the press when reporting the costs and benefits of dam removal and other major water infrastructure projects. … ”  Read more from the Center for California Water Resources Policy and Management.

Californians must step up pressure to ensure a full cleanup of toxic Santa Susana lab

Shawn Rostker, research analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, writes, “Nuclear cleanup efforts across the U.S. have revealed a grim reality: the nation’s toxic nuclear waste legacy continues to endanger communities while those responsible evade accountability.  At Los Alamos in New Mexico, newly exposed plutonium contamination poses long-term risks, while the ongoing cleanup at the Hanford Site in Washington remains a decades-long symbol of nuclear waste mismanagement. These national failures resonate deeply in Southern California, where the Santa Susana Field Laboratory increasingly represents that same neglect.  Despite an opportunity for California leaders to champion a thorough cleanup at Santa Susana, they’ve instead allowed toxic waste to linger, putting their constituents’ health and safety at risk. … ”  Read more from Cal Matters.

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In regional water news and commentary today …

MOUNTAIN COUNTIES

Lake Almanor levels document a wet year

“When the 2024 water year ended Sept. 30, it had information to share with the residents of the Lake Almanor area and all of Plumas County. Phil Datner, a retired electronic technician, has made the hydrological data available in a visual format: a graph.  Each multicolored line represents a year from 2015 to 2024. They document that 2024 was, for the second year in a row, a wetter year than the recent average. The black dotted line represents the average for the decade.  Almanor stayed above the 10-year average from October through September, the hydrological year. The lake volume started the year at 931,000 acre-feet and ended at 921,000 acre-feet, said Datner, a resident of Hamilton Branch who has been paying attention to Lake Almanor’s ebb and flow since 2015.  During the recent water year, the lowest volume was 891,350 acre-feet, which hit 4,484.3 feet in elevation on Jan. 12. The highest lake volume was 1,124,586 acre-feet on June 3, at an elevation of 4,493.32 feet. … ”  Read more from the Plumas Sun.

NAPA/SONOMA

Sebastopol discloses traces of cancer-causing agents in water wells: ‘How serious is it?’

“Two cancer-causing components have been found in Sebastopol’s aging water wells, raising red flags among city council leadership, especially as the city lacks funding to fix its infrastructure.  Specifically, traces of arsenic were detected in three of the city’s wells, according to a recently released city report. Tetrachloroethylene, commonly known as PCE, has been detected in one of those three wells, too.  But the levels of both arsenic and PCE in the city’s drinking water remain under thresholds deemed dangerous by state and federal regulators, city officials say. That’s because filtering or treatment systems have been installed to remove the bulk of the contaminants, and water from the wells is blended to reduce them even more. … ”  Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

BAY AREA

Tiburon eyes $1.4M grant for shoreline project

“Tiburon is closing in on a $1.4 million state grant to fund the final phase of a beach restoration project.  The Town Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to apply for the funding from the California Coastal Commission. The funds are expected to be awarded this winter and would cover the remaining costs of restoring Greenwood Beach and Brunini Beach at Blackie’s Pasture.  The restoration plan includes creating a “living” shoreline instead of a rock wall to protect against erosion. Living shorelines use sand, rocks, plants and other natural materials to create and stabilize a shoreline. They also establish habitat for wildlife, protect against flooding and reduce erosion. … ”  Read more from the Marin Independent Journal.

S.F.’s $68 million park opens to rave reviews: ‘This place is amazing’

“In the Sunday morning sunshine, Robert Simms came down from his home in San Francisco’s Bayview and walked out on the pier of 900 Innes Park, which had opened the day before.  “This place is amazing, man,” Simms said as he turned and looked back on the mostly neglected hillside neighborhood where he has lived for 45 years.   “There hasn’t been anything out here since Candlestick closed,” said Simms, who has been monitoring the painfully slow 10-year conversion of a closed boatyard into a destination with a food court, shipwright’s museum, wooden boat building school, and more white Adirondack chairs than there were people to sit in them on opening weekend.  … ”  Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY

Council to consider program that will pay 25% of industrial users’ sewer bills

“The Turlock City Council will consider at their next meeting adopting a new program that will subsidize industrial customers’ sewer bills staring in January 2025.  This new program comes after significant pushback from the city’s industrial sewer customers when the council voted unanimously at their Oct. 8 meeting to adopt new sewer rates that will see industrial users’ bills increase 200-300%.  “Those manufacturers in Turlock’s service area are deeply concerned about the proposed sewer rate increases being hurriedly brought for adoption before this council…We understand that there has been no rate increase for services for the sewer for the last 11 years and no rate study since 2008. … ”  Read more from the Turlock Journal.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Prop 4 climate bond: What’s in it for Angelenos

“Weather whiplash. Extreme precipitation and extreme fires. Drought to deluge. Whatever you want to call it, it’s clear to most Angelenos that climate change is real. Dramatic swings in precipitation and temperature in our region are more than just a theory. They are our new reality.  This new truth makes plain why it behooves every Angeleno to vote “yes” on Proposition 4 (The Parks, Environment, Energy, and Water Bond Measure). Recent studies show that a changing climate could reduce key water sources by more than 20% in the years ahead. That is particularly concerning for Southern California residents, where we continue to count on unreliable water imports from the Sierras and the Colorado River. This bond will provide essential funding to help ensure LA’s water supplies are clean and sustainable. … ”  Read more from the LA Waterkeeper.

Inside the battle to save Mountain High ski resort from a monster California wildfire

“It was early in the morning when Ben Smith drove his SUV to the top of Mountain High ski resort and looked south. Miles away and across a valley, he could see the ominous red glow of the Bridge fire amid the dark green pines of the Angeles National Forest.  By Smith’s estimate, the fire wouldn’t reach the resort for at least another day.  Then, the fire exploded.  By 6:30 that evening, the resort’s general manager would be racing east down Highway 2 past the town of Wrightwood as flames closed in on the road from both sides.  Smith had done everything he could to save the resort. He was the last to flee after his staff activated a battery of snow cannons to douse the ski area in water.  Now, there was just one thought running through his head: “Hopefully I make it out of here,” Smith recalled as he leaned against a wooden post at the resort’s Big Pines Lodge recently. … ”  Continue reading at the LA Times.

SAN DIEGO

Supervisor wants county to flex its legal muscles to fight sewage crisis

“San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who represents coastal communities from Carlsbad to Coronado, wants the county to flex its legal muscles to remedy the Tijuana sewage crisis.  On Tuesday, she will ask her colleagues to explore whether the county should sue or join lawsuits against “any potential responsible parties” for “damages caused to the Tijuana River Valley, Estuary and Marine Preserve, and the surrounding communities,” according to the supervisor’s agendized proposal.  The goal, the report adds: expedite repairs for wastewater infrastructure that has repeatedly broken down, leading to spills that foul South County shorelines and local roads.  A possible party, Lawson-Remer said, is Veolia Water North America, the international company contracted by the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to run the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant serves as a backstop for Tijuana sewage. … ”  Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Along the Colorado River …

Utah: Speaker Schultz calls for pause on major water bills in 2025

“House Speaker Mike Schultz hosted lawmakers for a water policy summit where he urged his colleagues to ensure efforts are taken to help the state deal with growth, protect the Great Salt Lake and ensure Utah gets its fair share of water from the Colorado River.  “Every part of this state has different needs, different water issues,” Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, told FOX 13 News on Thursday. “Collaboratively, we can come together as a state and work to move the state ahead and make sure we have enough water not just for us, but our kids and grandkids in the future.”  The Speaker has called for a “pause” on major water bills in the upcoming session of the Utah State Legislature. He said he believes major policy shifts have happened with bills and spending on water conservation and rewriting more than a century of water rights law.  … ”  Read more from the Salt Lake Tribune.

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In national water news today …

Associations file opening brief in PFAS case

“On Oct. 7, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) filed the organizations’ opening brief with the United States Court of Appeals in the case of AWWA vs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), related to EPA’s final drinking water regulation for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR).  Oct. 7 was the court-imposed deadline AMWA and AWWA had to submit their initial brief that will carry the bulk of the organizations’ arguments against the rule. In addition to the 13,000-word AMWA/AWWA brief, a group of chemical sector organizations plan to file a separate 13,000-word brief with the court detailing their own concerns with the NPDWR. … ”  Read more from Water Finance & Management.

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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.