WEEKLY WATER NEWS DIGEST for Dec. 30 – Jan. 3: California snowpack promising, but more storms needed; Valley Water Board to consider additional funding for Delta tunnel; Pending state Bay-Delta decision has Solano treading water; and more …

A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …

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In California water news this week …

California snowpack promising, but more storms needed

“California’s first winter snowpack survey of 2025 showed the snowpack at 91% of the average to date and 37% of the average on April 1, when the Sierra snowpack is typically at its peak.  The state Department of Water Resources conducts the official survey at Phillips Station, nestled in the crest of the Sierra near South Lake Tahoe. The snowpack acts as a reservoir for the state: As spring approaches and the snowpack melts, the water runs off into local streams and rivers, then state-run canals and dams for storage and use. Experts say that nearly a third of the water used in California annually comes from the snowpack.  Andy Reising, manager of the Department of Water Resources’ snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit, said the snow depth was 24 inches. That’s a good start, according to officials, but more storms are needed especially in Central and Southern California, which are typically drier than Northern California.  “As of right now, I am feeling OK, but we’ll need a progression of monthly storms to keep going,” Reising said. … ”  Read more from the Courthouse News Service.

California typically sees its wettest weather now. Are storms on the horizon?

“California’s north-south precipitation split that defined fall will give way to a more balanced weather pattern to begin 2025, but not in a way that favors skiers and fans of wintry weather.  The first half of January is likely to be much drier than average across California, with the Climate Prediction Center forecasting elevated odds of below-normal precipitation for the next two weeks. There is only one storm on the horizon from New Year’s Day until at least Jan. 15.  January is typically the wettest month of the year in San Francisco and the second wettest in Los Angeles, with 4.4 inches and 3.3 inches of rain, respectively. Weather models predict around half of these totals this January. … ”  Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Valley Water Board of Directors to consider additional funding for Delta Conveyance Project

This aerial view looks north along the Sacramento River and River Road and Hood Franklin Road (right riverbank), just west of Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Sacramento County. Photo by Dale Kolke / DWR

“Santa Clara County relies on water delivered through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for approximately 40% of its water supply. However, the Delta water system is aging and becoming less reliable due to climate change and stricter regulations aimed at protecting fish species such as the Delta Smelt, Chinook Salmon and Steelhead.  The Delta Conveyance Project aims to modernize California’s water delivery system. The project will protect against future water supply losses caused by climate-driven weather extremes, sea level rise, levee failures and earthquakes. It will modernize the water distribution system to capture and move water from big but infrequent storms so we can save more water to use during extended dry periods. The project could start providing water supply benefits as early as 2045.  Valley Water is one of 18 agencies participating in the proposed Delta Conveyance Project. … ”  Read more from Valley Water News.

SEE ALSOValley Water District will vote on additional $9.69 million for Delta Tunnel project on Jan. 14, from Dan Bacher at the Daily Kos

Pending state Bay-Delta decision has Solano treading water

“Suisun City Vice Mayor Princess Washington is in a difficult position regarding the proposed Bay Delta Plan.  She adamantly opposes the proposal that she and other Solano County officials argue will devastate agriculture, halt all new development, force higher dependency on groundwater and leave her own city bone dry 40% of the time. Washington, however, is also president of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, the state organization which favors the plan designed to improve fish and wildlife habitat, and specially salmon. “For Suisun City in particular, the scenario would result in no water allocations at all, creating an existential crisis for residents, businesses, and public infrastructure. The cascading consequences would include building moratoriums, economic stagnation, and unsustainable groundwater dependency,” Washington noted in comments she delivered to the State Water Resources Control Board. … ”  Read more from the Daily Republic.

Controversial Solano private island to be auctioned

“Following a decade long legal battle, a Solano County private island previously listed for up to $70 million will go up for auction in January following a court order.  Solano County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Rexhall Hawkins said the island will be auctioned subject to a court order on Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. in front of the Solano County Courthouse. Prospective bidders must register before Jan. 7, and the minimum bid is $0 with increments of $100.  The deadline to register for the auction is 15 days before the event, according to documents posted to a Facebook page operated by the island’s previous owner, John Sweeney. Potential applicants must agree to comply with multiple court decisions and regulations that the property is subject to, which will be enforced by local and state agencies. … ”  Read more from the The Reporter.

Crunch time: Groundwater agency with land in two troubled subbasins working double time to try and hold off state sanctions

“The Tri-County Water Authority has a foot in each of the two groundwater basins now under state probation and is scrambling to find a path to compliance in each.  Tri-County covers lands in both the Tule and Tulare Lake subbasins, in the southern portions of Kings and Tulare counties, respectively. Both those subbasins have been placed on probation by the state Water Resources Control Board for having inadequate groundwater sustainability plans.  Probation requires farmers to meter and register their wells at $300 each, report extractions and pay the state $20 per acre foot pumped. That’s on top of fees they already pay their groundwater agencies and water districts.  In the Tulare Lake subbasin, probationary sanctions have been paused while a lawsuit wends its way through the court system.  But that also means Water Board staff aren’t communicating with local water managers to help them develop groundwater plans that meet state expectations. … ”  Read more from SJV Water.

Michael Fitzgerald: Worst. Invasive. Species. Ever.

“There’s news from the front lines of the battle against the nutria, the weird invasive “giant swamp rat” that threatens to overrun and destroy the Delta: We’re losing.  The California Department of Fish and Wildlife doesn’t say that, of course. But its own data clearly show the population and range of the voracious South American beaver-like rodent are expanding towards a tipping point where they will be too numerous and widespread to eradicate.  “It’s scary. It’s really scary,” said Jen Fox, a spokesperson for Congressman Josh Harder, D-Tracy.  Harder’s bill to continue funding nutria eradication efforts recently passed the House.  “Nutria might look cute to some, but these giant swamp rats and their nacho cheese teeth are dangerous and they’re causing serious damage,” Harder said in a press release. … ”  Read more from Stocktonia.

California takes emergency measures to stop spread of invasive golden mussels, first found in Stockton

“California’s Fish and Game Commission has taken an emergency action that it hopes will help halt the spread of the golden mussel, an invasive mollusk discovered two months ago in the Port of Stockton.  The measure makes it illegal to possess, transport or import live golden mussels.  The move by the commission at its December meeting adds the tiny bivalves to the list of “restricted species” in California, joining crocodiles, elephants, aardvarks, manatees, slugs and white perch, to name a few. All are banned from the state without a special permit in an effort to protect agriculture and the environment from being overrun by nonnative varmints.  Golden mussels aren’t the first invasive mollusk in the state — zebra and quagga mussels have also been a problem — but they are being treated as potentially more dangerous. … ”  Read more from Stocktonia.

NASA study: Crops, forests responding to changing rainfall patterns

Earth’s rainy days are changing and plant life is responding. This visualization shows average precipitation for the entire globe based on more than 20 years of data from 2000 to 2023. Cooler colors indicate areas that receive less rain. Warm colors receive more rain.  NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

“A new NASA-led study has found that how rain falls in a given year is nearly as important to the world’s vegetation as how much. Reporting Dec. 11 in Nature, the researchers showed that even in years with similar rainfall totals, plants fared differently when that water came in fewer, bigger bursts.  In years with less frequent but more concentrated rainfall, plants in drier environments like the U.S. Southwest were more likely to thrive. In humid ecosystems like the Central American rainforest, vegetation tended to fare worse, possibly because it could not tolerate the longer dry spells. Scientists have previously estimated that almost half of the world’s vegetation is driven primarily by how much rain falls in a year. Less well understood is the role of day-to-day variability, said lead author Andrew Feldman, a hydrologist and ecosystem scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Shifting precipitation patterns are producing stronger rainstorms — with longer dry spells in between — compared to a century ago. … ”  Read more from NASA.

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In regional water news this week …

Bolinas Beach reopens after contamination probe

“Sections of Bolinas Beach have reopened following a three-month closure because of contaminants.  The county discovered the pollution in the Mesa area in September, when inspectors visited a site for a permit application. They saw potential effluent coming out of a cliff above the beach and discolored, odorous and crystallized liquid in soil surrounding the bluffs.  “In some areas the water was seeping and in others it was flowing,” Sarah Jones, director of the Marin County Community Development Agency, said in September.  Tests revealed that the soil contained ammonia, E. coli and coliform bacteria, raising concerns about the possibility of sewage leaking from private septic systems. … ”  Read more from the Marin Independent Journal.

Antioch brackish desalination plant set to begin operations

“In an effort to increase the city’s usable water supply, the long-awaited nearly $100-million brackish desalination plant in Antioch is expected to start operating within the next few months.  Acting Public Works Director Scott Buenting said the project, which started around 2021, is now nearing completion.  “After construction, there is time for debugging the system,” said Buenting in an interview with this news organization. “We figure it will be in operations in the first quarter of 2025.”  The project, which was initially projected to cost just below $87 million, was awarded to Shimmick Construction Co. in December 2020. In May 2023, the Antioch City Council approved an amendment to its capital improvement and operating budget for an additional contingency of about 7% of the original bid amount. The final price tag for construction was $97,123,450. … ”  Read more from Silicon Valley. | Read via the Mercury News.

At San Francisco refuge, new trail connects community

Cyclists and pedestrians use the Flyway Trail in the Ravenswood unit of Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The trail, which opened in October 2024, is part of the San Francisco Bay Trail system, which includes more than 350 miles of trails. Miguelina Portorreal Garcia/USFWS

“There’s something new drawing visitors — cyclists, runners and pedestrians — to the Ravenswood unit of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge: The Flyway Trail and Viewing Area, which opened in October 2024.  As trails go, it might not seem like much: just a half-mile strip of pavement between the refuge and Bedwell Bayfront Park, the only city-owned open space within the city of Menlo Park. But as a connector, the new trail is a game changer.  The trail links to a footbridge that Meta (formerly Facebook) built two years ago across Interstate 84. The result is the first-ever walking path from congested East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park to the park and the refuge. “We’re literally bringing the bay to people’s footsteps,” says Miguel Marquez, park ranger at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex.  The trail also showcases a major effort to restore the bay and reduce area storm flooding. Trail users can see three different types of wetlands managed by the refuge, as it returns former industrial salt ponds to tidal flow. … ”  Read more from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Proposed 2.5-mile pipeline could connect Los Osos to the State Water Project

“A proposed 2.5-mile pipeline could connect Los Osos to the State Water Project.  This $8 million project recently made it through Congress and Senate approval and could be a new source of water for the town with a long history of water issues.  The pipeline project has been in the works for the past four years.  “We’ve done preliminary design. We’ve done the environmental work called CEQA. My board has certified mitigated negative declaration on the environmental impacts, so we’ve made some progress and I believe that’s why we have got our foot in the door for this funding because it’s not starting from scratch,” said Ron Munds, Los Osos Community Services District (CSD) General Manager. … ”  Read more from KSBY.

La Niña is living up to expectations in Southern California

“Los Angeles ended 2024 with one of its driest periods on record – a result of La Niña’s effects, weather officials told KTLA 5 News.  Despite beginning the year with historic rainfall levels, an extended dry spell has covered Southern California since spring, bringing severe drought conditions that have fueled several large wildfires in recent months.  In the downtown L.A. metro area, from May 6 to Dec. 31, the area only received 0.16″ of rain, making the seven-month stretch the second driest in recorded history, according to data from the National Weather Service.  The only period that topped this dry stretch was in 1962, when the downtown area received only 0.14 inches during the same seven-month span. … ”  Read more from KTLA News.

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Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …

NOTICE: San Joaquin River Restoration Program releases draft supplement environmental assessment for Arroyo Canal Fish Screen and Sack Dam Fish Passage Project

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