A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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In California water news this week …
Drier and wetter in 21st century California: Managing increasing hydroclimate whiplash in a warming world
“The Los Angeles fires have become a stark example of the devastating effects of hydroclimate whiplash, as extreme weather patterns fuel increasingly destructive wildfires. After enduring years of punishing drought, California was inundated by atmospheric rivers during the winter of 2022-2023, bringing record-breaking precipitation, snow-covered mountain towns, and landslides. Yet, this fleeting relief came with a catch. Another wet winter spurred rampant vegetation growth, which, by the scorching summer of 2024 and a bone-dry start to 2025, became tinder for wildfires. The rapid shifts between soaking rains and intense heat highlight the growing unpredictability of hydroclimate extremes and their dangerous consequences for communities and ecosystems. At the 2025 California Irrigation Institute, Dr. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, gave a presentation on hydroclimate whiplash and what it means for California. … ” Continue reading this article.
From deluges to drought: Climate change speeds up water cycle, triggers more extreme weather
“Prolonged droughts, wildfires and water shortages. Torrential downpours that overwhelm dams and cause catastrophic flooding. Around the globe, rising temperatures stoked by climate change are increasing the odds of both severe drought and heavier precipitation that wreak havoc on people and the environment. Rainfall can disappear for years only to return with a vengeance, as it did in California in 2023, with record-setting rain and snowfall. That led to heavy vegetation growth that provided fuel for the devastating January wildfires in Los Angeles after drought returned. But how can global warming cause both drier and wetter extremes? Here’s what experts say. … ” Read more from the Associated Press.
Continued winter storms allow for another boost to State Water Project deliveries to 40%
“Today, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that wet and cold storms in March have allowed for another increase to the State Water Project (SWP) allocation forecast for 2025. The allocation has increased to 40 percent of requested water supplies, up from 35 percent last month. The State Water Project provides water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. The latest allocation forecast is based on increases in precipitation, snowpack, and reservoir storage in the past month. The allocation increase comes ahead of the April 1 snow surveys next week, when Sierra Nevada snowpack typically peaks. “As we near the end of the wet season, our focus shifts to snowpack runoff and whether temperatures allow for a slow melt so we can capture as much of that runoff as possible,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “Despite periods of extremely dry conditions this season, water managers have been able to effectively capture, move, and store water for use later this year while also maintaining flood protection.” … ” Read more from the Department of Water Resources.
Reclamation further increases Central Valley Project water supply allocations for 2025; Central Valley Project contractors respond water year
“In support of ongoing efforts to provide maximum water supplies in California, the Bureau of Reclamation announces an increase in Central Valley Project 2025 water supply allocations that will provide farmers and other CVP contractors greater water supply certainty throughout the growing season. Initial allocations for the 2025 water year were announced Feb. 25 and are updated today. “While most of the Central Valley Project contractors are at 100% allocation, we are very pleased to announce an increase in allocations for our South-of-Delta and Friant Division contractors,” said Acting Regional Director Adam Nickels. “Consistent with the intent of Executive Order 14181, we are able to increase South-of Delta agriculture to 40% and Friant Division Class 1 to 100%.” … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Dead fish stink up the Newsom-Trump water truce
“The Chinook salmon has upset a quiet truce in the California water wars between Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump. Last week, when the winter-run Chinook got caught in pumps that funnel water south from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farms and cities, California officials dialed down water deliveries in line with the state’s endangered species rules. Their federal counterparts didn’t restrict the flows — at least not at first. The fishy foul-up started when officials with the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t immediately agree on what to do when the salmon got caught up in the pumps beyond an allowable limit. State officials argued their joint rules warranted an immediate ramping down of pumping, while Reclamation staff pushed for more analysis of whether the changes would actually help the fish population, according to two people granted anonymity to protect sensitive conversations. … ” Read more from Politico.
Federal government restores funding for fish that Trump loves to loathe
“The federal government has restored funding for a captive breeding program designed to ensure survival of California’s delta smelt, even as President Donald Trump has sharpened criticism of the endangered fish. A five-year grant for the UC Davis Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory in Contra Costa County, which raises the smelt, expired last month, and many believed the funding would not be reinstated. Eleven of the lab’s 17 employees were let go. This week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and UC Davis confirmed that the federal funding, which makes up about three-quarters of the lab’s budget, would resume. Why the financing lapsed and why it ultimately returned amid the widespread funding cuts initiated by the Trump administration over the past two months was not immediately clear. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle (gift article).
SEE ALSO: Trump admin approves funding to keep California’s Delta smelt alive, from E&E News
Trump and Newsom find common ground attacking California’s coastal agency
“In a hotel meeting room two blocks from the beach, the California Coastal Commission might as well have written “S.O.S.” in the sand. “We are under complete assault,” said Susan Lowenberg, a member of the coastal-preservation commission, which was born in the 1970s from the same movement that gave rise to Earth Day and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We need help.” President Trump has publicly castigated the state commission, vowing not to “let them get away with their antics.” Elon Musk has said it “should not even exist as an organization.” Mr. Trump’s administration has threatened to withhold federal aid for the Los Angeles wildfires unless the state defunds the agency. The attacks are surprisingly bipartisan: Democratic state lawmakers are trying to weaken the commission’s authority over housing development. And Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has said the commission has too much power, and delivered a stinging rebuke in January. … ” Read more from the New York Times (gift article).
California reports progress in supporting healthy salmon populations and habitat
“The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today the release of the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future: Progress Report, developed in partnership with the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) with support from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The Progress Report follows the release of the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future, released in January 2024. California’s salmon populations are struggling to recover from years of drought, climate disruption, and other environmental and human-made challenges. Thriving salmon populations support healthy waterways, habitats, and species, as well as a multi-million dollar fishing economy and the subsistence of California Native American tribes. The actions outlined in the report lay the groundwork for California to restore and rebuild salmon populations, improve salmon habitat, and utilize the best available science and management practices to prepare for the future. … ” Read more from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Learning to embrace risk to save California’s freshwater species
“California experienced its hottest year on record in 2024. That’s having a huge impact on California’s agriculture, its water system, wildfires, and so much more. “It’s pretty clear that climate change is hitting every corner of the state in a whole lot of dangerous ways,” said PPIC-CalTrout Ecosystem Fellow Ted Sommer in an event last week. And while the impacts are evident in increasingly extreme weather, Sommer said one affected area typically gets less attention: the state’s freshwater ecosystems. California, he said, is a biodiversity hotspot: “We have over 1,700 aquatic species.” These species and the ecosystems that nurture them provide innumerable benefits to the state, including clean water, recreation, and economic growth. But Sommer says we risk losing a lot of that biodiversity because of long-term environmental issues and now climate change. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
Kern County Water Agency board approves additional funding for the Delta Conveyance Project
“The Kern County Water Agency (Agency) approved funding for the planning and design of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). This decision, made during the Board’s meeting on March 27, reflects a collective vote by the Agency’s Member Units. This investment supports efforts to modernize California’s water infrastructure and ensure a reliable water supply for Kern County and California. The DCP is a critical initiative aimed at climate adaptation, reducing vulnerability to sea level rise and earthquakes and protecting water quality. By participating in the pre-construction planning, public water agencies like the Agency will continue to move the DCP closer to the construction phase into design and continued permitting. … ” Read more from the Kern County Water Agency.
MEETING NOTES: Kern districts want strings on money to continue funding Delta tunnel
“Several local agricultural water districts that contract for state water approved continued spending toward construction of the long-planned tunnel to get water through the ecologically sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But those approvals included strings. The Rosedale Rio-Bravo and Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa water storage districts boards recently approved maintaining their current shares of the Kern County Water Agency’s portion of the pre-construction and planning phase for the Delta Conveyance Project. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
State Water Board AHO sends email regarding resumption of Delta Conveyance Project hearings after Monday’s disruption
“Dear Parties and Interested Persons: This e-mail is to follow up with next steps about resumption of the hearing on the proposed Delta Conveyance Project on April 3. First, I want to acknowledge that, although the State Water Board’s hearing platform was the direct target of this cyberattack, everyone in the hearing room or viewing the proceeding on YouTube was harmed. In addition to the obvious disruption and the offensive nature of the content that was forced on us, the slurs and other abhorrent words and images seem to have been calculated to intimidate and inflict particular injury on certain groups and individuals. I find this aspect of Monday’s events particularly disturbing, as I believe many of you do as well. No one should have to risk being subjected to this type of visual and verbal assault when they participate in a government process. The AHO hearing room should be a space in which I can assure that each of you will be safe and treated with dignity – and during Monday’s hearing I could not. I sincerely apologize. I also wish to thank those of you who sent correspondence with information and helpful comments with respect to this incident over the last day. … ” Read more from the State Water Board.
California Appellate Court addresses whether captured flood waters constitute personal property
“A California Court of Appeal (Fifth District) (“Court”) addressed in a March 14th Opinion whether water in an aquifer could be personal property. See Sandton Agriculture Investments III, LLC, v. 4-S Ranch Partners, LLC, 2025 WL 814870. The water in question constituted captured floodwaters stored in the aquifer. 4-S Ranch Partners, LLC (“4-S”) acquired legal title to California land consisting of 17 assessed parcels and containing approximately 5,257.46 acres and related interest. The land and attached improvements were appraised in 2019 at $14,985,000. The appraisal excluded any subsurface water or mineral rights. In addition, the appraisal indicated that due to two perpetual United States Fish and Wildlife conservation easements, that the land was limited to its current use as an irrigated and dry pasture ranch with some lower intensity farming uses. … ” Read more from Mitchell Williams.
From paper to progress: The $60 million project transforming California’s water rights data
“California is taking a major step forward in transforming how water is managed and monitored with the roll out of a groundbreaking tool aimed at modernizing water rights data. Launching this summer, the State Water Board’s $60 million Updating Water Rights Data for California (UPWARD) project is set to replace the outdated, paper-based system with a streamlined, user-friendly platform. By tackling the inefficiencies of the current system, UPWARD will provide timely, accessible information for better decision-making, especially critical during water shortages and droughts. This innovative effort promises to enhance the state’s ability to safeguard its most precious resource. The overarching goal of the UPWARD project is to create new digital infrastructure and data governance processes to improve the quality and accessibility of water rights data. The project will replace the current eWRIMS system with a modern data system, digitize paper records and make them accessible online, and create the teams, policies, and protocols to properly manage the data into perpetuity. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
DELTA PROTECTION COMMISSION: Report: Many socioeconomic indicators for the Delta see improvement
“Unemployment fell. Median income rose. Land in agricultural production increased. These improving socioeconomic indicators for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are highlights of a report released today by the Delta Protection Commission. The Socioeconomic Indicators Update is the second report in an ongoing series providing a scorecard of key measures of wellbeing in the Delta, tracking them both over time and in comparison with the state as a whole. The first report (PDF) covered data from 2011 to 2016, and the update covers 2017 to 2022. The release of the update includes public access to the source data. Data used in the report come from the National Center for Education Statistics, 2021 American Community Survey, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Cropscape and the California Public Utilities Commission. … ” Continue reading from the Delta Protection Commission.
Tiny, swampy, ‘not really drivable’: The hamlet where California Forever envisions a shipbuilding powerhouse
“The little-known community of Collinsville, which emerged this week as the proposed site of a major shipbuilding yard from the development group California Forever, is about as backwater as the Bay Area gets. Sitting quietly along the Sacramento River in the marshes of Solano County, a smattering of homes and barns stands about two miles west of where the new maritime facility would operate. The small hamlet became even smaller after a grass fire tore through in 2014, burning many of the residences and leaving only a handful of families. Many of those remaining have ties to the area’s past, when fishing and ranching were the economy’s lifeblood and before hundreds of power-producing windmills dotted the nearby Montezuma Hills. While the community enjoys the charms of yesteryear, with its old wooden docks, gravel roads, dearth of traffic and plenty of open space, there’s also a sense that it’s fallen uncomfortably behind. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
1 in 8 Californians now face extreme fire danger, Post analysis shows
“One in 8 Californians now live in places at risk for the kinds of devastating wildfires that tore through Los Angeles this winter, according to a Washington Post analysis of state fire maps released Monday. The maps, drawn by Cal Fire, the state’s forestry and fire protection agency, reveal the threat from wildfire is greater than previous state estimates showed. They reflect the effects of soaring temperatures on California, where hotter, drier weather has primed a landscape filled with vast acres of forest and shrubland for explosive fires — even in winter, during what should be the state’s rainy season. When factoring in areas where state and local firefighters are responsible for fighting blazes, the maps show there are now about 5.1 million people living in the two highest fire severity zones in the state, The Post found. That’s around one in 8 Californians. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
ACWA leading coalition opposing SB 601 wastewater discharge bill
“ACWA is urging members to join a coalition opposing SB 601, which would needlessly complicate the state’s wastewater discharge permitting system, potentially lead to frivolous litigation and likely result in higher water bills for Californians. The bill was introduced by Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) with the intent of safeguarding California’s water quality protection regime from federal rollbacks. However, its approach would go far beyond simply maintaining the status quo, expanding federal permitting requirements and exposing water agencies to significant liability, ultimately impeding progress toward overcoming the state’s severe housing shortage while answering water supply reliability challenges. … ” Read more from ACWA’s Water News.
Will this bill be the end of California’s housing vs environment wars?
“For years California has been stuck in a recurring fight between legislators who want the state to turbocharge new home construction and legislators determined to defend a landmark environmental protection law. The final showdown in that long-standing battle may have just arrived. A new bill by Oakland Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks would exempt most urban housing developments from the 55-year-old California Environmental Quality Act. If it passes — a big if, even in today’s ascendent pro-building political environment — it would mean no more environmental lawsuits over proposed apartment buildings, no more legislative debates over which projects should be favored with exemptions and no more use of the law by environmental justice advocates, construction unions and anti-development homeowners to wrest concessions from developers or delay them indefinitely. In short, it would spell the end of California’s Housing-CEQA Wars. … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
In commentary this week …
California government meeting stopped by pornography, racism? Democracy lost
Opinion writer Tom Philp writes, “A state meeting on California’s most controversial water project, attended via Zoom on Monday by dozens of officials and experts, was hijacked by a rogue broadcast of sexual images and audio of racist comments against Blacks and Jews. It was not funny. The State Water Resources Control Board, unable to stop its own webcast, lost control of the meeting. It was canceled. And key testimony is not scheduled to resume for at least six weeks. As the state capital, Sacramento has seen more than its share of political theater over the years. In 2019, a menstrual cup containing human blood was thrown from the state Senate gallery, temporarily interrupting proceedings. Activists opposed to vaccinations for children took civil disobedience to new extremes.But what happened Monday in a complicated regulatory proceeding is something disturbingly new and different. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Trump’s cuts to federal agency NOAA hurt Californians and weaken national security
Tom Ellison, director of the nonpartisan Center for Climate and Security, writes, “As a Sacramento native, the effects of climate change on the state are personal to me. My fondest memories are backpacking in the Sierras and Trinity Alps, places I’ve since returned to and found ravaged by wildfires. As a student, I interned for former Senator Dianne Feinstein, who loomed large in California agricultural and water policy. My parents worked on California energy and environmental issues, and my mom owned N95 masks for wildfire smoke long before COVID made them common. Most recently, the devastating Los Angeles wildfires displaced friends and family. My professional path led me to the intelligence community, where I served for a decade in Washington, D.C., and the Middle East. There, I saw how fires, floods and food aren’t just environmental topics but profound security issues. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
In Our View: Columbia River treaty reversal requires explanation
The Columbian editorial board writes, “Because Washington shares a 427-mile border with Canada, it is not surprising that President Donald Trump’s bizarre feud with our neighbors to the north has a large impact on our state. … Trump’s tariffs upon goods from Canada — and Canada’s countertariffs — have drawn much attention. So have his musings about Canada becoming our 51st state. But perhaps his most counterproductive move regarding our neighbors involves the Columbia River Treaty. The treaty dates to 1961, defining flood mitigation practices throughout the Columbia River basin — an area roughly the size of Texas. Negotiations to modernize the treaty began in 2018, and last year the Biden administration announced a tentative agreement. Now, however, the Trump administration has paused the continuing negotiations. This comes from a president who has said that tapping into the Columbia River could solve water shortages in California. … ” Read more from The Columbian.
The Sáttítla Highlands National Monument was a victory for California’s water future, don’t roll it back
Matt Freitas with American Rivers writes, “I’ve witnessed firsthand the effects and the legacy of unbridled land use on California’s headwaters in the Sierra Nevada. The streams and meadows from which these headwaters feed rivers like the Tuolumne, Merced, American, or Yuba are the lifeblood of California. Despite their importance, many of these water sources are still recovering from more than a century of exhaustive mining, grazing, and logging that left them degraded, vulnerable, or polluted. … On January 14th, 224,000 acres of California’s Sierra Nevada range were designated under the Antiquities Act as the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument. The designation was a great advance in preserving the land, the headwaters, and the vital underground aquifer beneath them — securing a major source of California’s clean water and the heritage of our communities for generations to come. … ” Read more from American Rivers.
SCOTUS rules in favor of sewage: you can’t make this sh** up
Amanda Fencl, Director of Climate Science, Climate and Energy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, writes, “When I lived in College Station, Texas, I kept dreaming about a Gulf Coast beach weekend escape from inland Texas. Even though this was early in the pandemic and the need for outdoor escapes was high, ultimately, I never made the trip. Honestly, I was kind of nervous about water quality. What’s the point of a beach adventure if you can’t even go into the ocean? In 2022, ninety of Texas’ beaches tested positive for unsafe levels of fecal bacteria (poop!), local advocates in Houston kept regular Poo Reports, and eventually, after having too many sewer overflows, Houston was ordered make $2 billion in wastewater infrastructure improvements. Upgrading infrastructure is expensive! This is why the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s historic investments provided a long overdue federal commitment to improving and protecting water quality (and why current threats to it and the agencies like EPA administering funds are so misguided). … ” Read more from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
California keeps poking holes in CEQA. A new bill could blow a crater through it
Columnist Joe Garofoli writes, “Gov. Gavin Newsom boasts that he has signed 42 separate bills altering the California Environmental Quality Act, colloquially known as CEQA, the state’s landmark environmental law. By continually carving out exemptions to the law, whose regulations are often blamed for worsening the state’s housing crisis, lawmakers have created what critics deride as “Swiss cheese CEQA.” Now a Bay Area lawmaker wants to carve the biggest hole in the law yet: A bill by Oakland Assembly Member Buffy Wicks would exempt most infill housing from the environmental reviews required under CEQA. There is no way to build more housing quickly in California unless CEQA is massively overhauled. Wicks, chair of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee, hopes this is the first of many ways to significantly rebuild and reimagine the 55-year-old law for today’s urgency. California is way behind its goal to build 2.5 million homes by 2030. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
In regional water news this week …
Battle lines drawn months before PG&E submits final application to decommission Potter Valley hydropower plant
“More than 200 people from Humboldt to Marin counties packed the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Hall Thursday night for a town hall meeting about how PG&E’s planned shutdown of its Potter Valley hydropower plant would impact the region’s water supply. The controversial project involves the removal of the Scott and Cape Horn dams and PG&E’s nearby hydroelectric facility in Lake County, with PG&E saying it won’t shut down the plant and begin dam removal until 2028 at the earliest. Residents and some elected officials are concerned the project will spark the potential loss of water from the Eel River to the Russian River that individuals from Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin counties have relied on for more than 100 years. “This plan is unacceptable,” said Cloverdale Fire Protection District Chief Jason Jenkins. “As a fire chief, I’m here to say this does not protect our community.” Bronte Edwards, a first generation sheep farmer from Sebastopol, said the project is setting farmers “up for failure,” and told leaders that if “you don’t have our backs, we will organize.” … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Is raising Coyote Dam the key to fixing Russian River’s water problems?
“At its February 13, 2025, meeting, the Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission (IWPC) discussed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that sets the stage for a New Eel-Russian Diversion Facility (NERF). The agreement, signed by California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), California Trout, Eel-Russian Project Authority (ERPA), Humboldt County, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission (IWPC), Round Valley Indian Tribes (RVIT), Sonoma County Water Agency (Sonoma Water), and Trout Unlimited, outlines terms for a new water diversion plan that would impact water users across Northern California. According to IWPC Chair Janet Pauli, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors has posted the full MOU terms online for public review. … ” Read more from MendoFever.
Placer County Water Agency continues to address water delivery challenges following PG&E powerhouse damage
“At its March 20 meeting, the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) Board of Directors received an update on the ongoing efforts to address water supply challenges caused by damage to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Lake Spaulding Powerhouses and its impact on water deliveries. A second repair to the Spaulding Powerhouse No. 1 owned and operated by PG&E is now underway 24/7 as reported by PG&E, and expected to be completed this summer. During these repairs, releases from Lake Spaulding to the Drum Canal and Bear River will be cut off, requiring PCWA to implement measures similar to last summer to offset the reduction in PG&E deliveries. The resulting five-month disruption will significantly impact PCWA’s water deliveries. “It is deeply concerning that PCWA customers are again facing a reduction in water deliveries,” said Gray Allen PCWA Board Vice Chair, who also noted higher costs for pumping water from the American River. “We understand the challenges this places on our community, and we appreciate everyone’s efforts to
conserve water.” … ” Read more from the Placer County Water Agency.
Fresno lawmaker steps in to block billion-dollar blast mine on San Joaquin River
“A billion-dollar blast mine planned along the San Joaquin River’s prime salmon spawning habitat is facing its first major political challenge after months of diplomatic silence from Fresno leaders. Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula introduced new state legislation last week aimed directly at stopping global mining giant CEMEX from blasting a crater twice as deep as Millerton Lake along the San Joaquin River’s planned parkway near Fresno. “I am committed to preserving the San Joaquin River and find deeply troubling the mining proposal that could adversely impact the river,” Arambula told Fresnoland in a statement, becoming the first elected official to publicly oppose the project. … ” Read more from Fresnoland.
State proposes administrator to take over troubled East Orosi sewer system
“A clearer path forward could be emerging in the tiny Tulare County community of East Orosi, which has long struggled with contaminated drinking water, a decrepit sewer system and dysfunction among elected leaders. The state Water Resources Control Board will be in town Thursday, April 17 to explain why it proposes that the community’s sewer system be run by a new administrator, the Tulare County Resource Management Agency (RMA). The meeting is at 6 p.m. at Iglesia La Paz, 13920 Avenue 418 in East Orosi. Members of the public may offer comments on the proposal in person, via Zoom, or by email until May 7. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Drinkable seawater? One company in drought-plagued SoCal is trying a new approach
“The star of the show is this 12-foot-long, four-foot-wide cylinder that’s getting lowered into the water. After half an hour, it reaches the bottom and goes to work. “You have a bulk of fluid that passes through the membrane,” said Mark Golay, engineering director with OceanWell, who helped make this machine. “And then it’s pumped back up here to the panel.” Like a lot of desalination systems, this one shoves salt water through a filter, and spits out fresh water on the other side. Unlike those other systems, this one is designed to work 1,500 feet beneath the surface, where water passes through the membrane on its own because of the immense water pressure. OceanWell said compared to other membrane-based systems that take water from close to the surface, its technology uses 30 to 40% less energy to produce fresh water. … ” Read more from Marketplace.
SEE ALSO:
- New technology which could help ease droughts being tested in the Conejo Valley, from KCLU
- Las Virgenes Municipal Water District And OceanWell Pilot Innovative Subsea Water Farm Technology, from Water Online
LA has big plans to recycle more water. Why the city says it’s going to take decades to do it
“L.A.’s big plans to recycle almost all of its wastewater for drinking is likely to take a lot longer than originally proposed. Back in 2019, former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a goal to recycle almost all of L.A.’s wastewater by 2035. But the long-awaited plan on how to actually do that pushes the timeline back more than 20 years — to 2056, though some wastewater would be recycled for drinking by 2040. “In today’s environment where literally our sources of water are drying up before our eyes, we need to move much more quickly,” said Bruce Reznik, director of the nonprofit L.A. Waterkeeper, at a special joint meeting Tuesday between the boards of the L.A. Department of Water and Power and L.A. Sanitation and Environment, the city agencies leading the project. … ” Read more from the LAist.
Communities are rebuilding after L.A. fires despite lack of soil testing for toxic substances
“In Altadena and the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of L.A., reconstruction has begun despite the fact that the soil on affected properties has not been tested for toxic substances. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s controversial decision to forgo soil testing in communities burned in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires sparked pushback Wednesday as California lawmakers questioned whether the practice will prevent residents from knowing if there are toxic substances on the land before rebuilding begins. Federally hired cleanup crews have been removing ash and debris, in addition to a 6-inch layer of topsoil, from buildings burned by the wildfires. But, asked last month by The Times, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed they won’t test the soil at these properties after they finish their cleanup, breaking with a long-standing practice that was intended to ensure that homes and schools don’t still contain excessive levels of harmful chemicals after environmental disasters such as a wildfire. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
‘Feral, almost demonic’: Surge in poisoned sea lions threatens SoCal beachgoers, burdens rescuers
“Sea lions and other ocean mammals in Southern California are falling victim to a poisoning event that a local expert calls the worst in recent memory. It is stranding the mammals along the coast as warnings are issued to beachgoers of the threat posed by animals that are transformed by their illness. A surfer reported an attack by a sea lion that was “feral, almost demonic” as he was on his board off Ventura County on Friday. Rj LaMendola said the animal bit him as he surfed off Oxnard, shaking its head and dragging him off his surfboard. He said on Facebook that as he paddled away terrified, the sea lion continued to stalk him. LaMendola, who has been surfing in Oxnard since 2006, said he tried to splash the sea lion to scare it away. He later contacted the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute, who told him the attack likely happened due to the toxic algae bloom. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
California’s giant, troubled lake is running out of time
“After decades of trial and error, a new plan is taking shape around the Salton Sea, California’s largest — and endlessly troubled — lake. The accidental inland sea, some 35 miles long, sprung to life 120 years ago when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal east of Palm Springs. The sudden, shimmering water briefly created a tourist boom that lasted into the 1960s, though for much of the half-century, the lake could more aptly be described as an environmental disaster zone. Now a new wave of conservation efforts, sparked by millions of dollars in recent federal funding, has washed ashore at the ultra-briny sea, and there’s cautious hope from some that incoming industry will bring an economic boom. That is, if it doesn’t all fall apart first. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …
LAKE OROVILLE UPDATE: Flood control releases ongoing; Planned water fluctuations at the Oroville-Thermalito Complex; Eagle Lake trout stocking; Current lake operations; and more …
SAN JOAQUIN RIVER RESTORATION PRGM: 2025 Restoration Flow Schedule Update
NOTICE of Proposed Rulemaking – Onsite Treatment and Reuse of Nonpotable Water (SBDDW-22-001)
NOTICE of a Request for a Water Quality Certification for the Potter Valley Project
ANNOUNCEMENT: Fuels to flows project launches
