Several news sources featured in the Daily Digest may limit the number of articles you can access without a subscription. However, gift articles and open-access links are provided when available. For more open access California water news articles, explore the main page at MavensNotebook.com.
On the calendar today …
- MEETING: Central Valley Flood Protection Board beginning at 9am. Agenda items include a legislative update, the American River Common Features 2016, Flood Risk Management Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Subsequent Environmental Impact Report; and staff reports. Click here for the full agenda.
- WEBINAR: Erosional Threat to Rivers After Wildfire from 10am to 11am. The presentation will review the risk and potential damage from erosion after wildfires in the Sierra Nevada that have increased in size and severity over the last 20 years. The webinar will review damage to the North Fork Feather River from the Dixie Fire, threats to the Upper American and Consumnes Rivers from the Caldor Fire and the threat to the Wild and Scenic Mokelumne River. Host: Rich Farrington; Director, Amador Water Agency & Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority Click here to register.
- MEETING: Drought Resilience Interagency & Partners (DRIP) Collaborative from 10am to 4pm. Join the Department of Water Resources for the Drought Resilience Interagency & Partners (DRIP) Collaborative meeting. Members of the public will be able to observe the meeting and provide public comments in-person at the meeting location or remotely. Click here for more information.
In California water news today …
The impact of climate change on stormwater management
“Climate change is affecting all parameters of the environmental spectrum and thus, all aspects of life. Regarding water resilience, the lingering effects of climate change play a significant role in limiting access to water whilst also increasing demand for water supplies across the nation and most especially in Southern California. Climate change’s acceleration of the hydrological cycle has also increased risks of extreme storm and drought events for most regions, especially semi-arid regions. Nature-based solutions (NBS), when designed in response to projected climate change impacts, can offer practical and cost-effective adaptive strategies for stormwater management to confront and mitigate the ecological damage caused by climate change. This post will explore how climate change affects stormwater management in Southern California, explain how NBS can help adapt to climate change, and list recommended strategies for climate change-resilient stormwater management practices. … ” Continue reading from UCANR.
These programs have monitored our waters for decades. Trump could destroy them.
“On a sunny evening on Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, dogs gambol, couples canoodle, and Jan Roletto veers toward a dead cormorant she has spied amid the driftwood. With the ease of one who’s handled thousands of such birds, Roletto slips on gloves, measures the cormorant’s wingspan, snaps photographs, and records its condition. What the cormorant’s wild and brilliant life meant to it, we do not know. But for the humans, the bird now begins a second existence: memorialized and distilled, as a data point in an ecological monitoring program called Beach Watch. … Beach Watch volunteers have now documented what birds died—and lived—along 30,000 cumulative miles of beaches. In the process, they have created a dataset that underpins our understanding of Bay Area shores, and informs how we use and manage them. It is one of many such datasets produced by decades-old monitoring programs, largely funded by the federal government, that amount to our society’s collective eyes and ears on what is happening in the natural world. … ” Read more from Bay Nature.
Massive California reservoir to cost billions more than expected
“The plan to build one of California’s largest reservoirs in decades may now cost billions more dollars than expected, planners say. Sites Reservoir, set to be located near Maxwell in the Sacramento Valley, is now expected to cost at least $6.2 billion to build, the project planners confirmed to Bay Area News Group on Wednesday. Jerry Brown, the executive director of the Sites Project Authority, told the news outlet that planners upped the cost from the originally projected $4.5 billion because of inflation. The biggest drivers of the increase included factory shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and recent tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump, the outlet reported. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Reclamation awards $93M for Arroyo Canal Fish Screen and Sack Dam Fish Bypass Project
“The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a major construction contract for the Arroyo Canal Fish Screen and Sack Dam Fish Bypass Project. The $93 million award to NW Construction, Inc. marks a significant milestone in the continued effort to improve fish passage required under the 2006 San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement and the 2009 San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act. “The Settlement and Settlement Act represent a positive partnership between water users, environmental groups, the federal government, and the State of California,” said Acting Commissioner David Palumbo. “We look forward to these relationships advancing the cause of multi-benefit programs on the San Joaquin River and beyond.” … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Removing aging dams could help strengthen communities facing extreme weather: Report
“Eliminating obsolete or unsafe dams could help bolster community safety amid climate-induced weather extremes, watershed experts are recommending. Storms and floods have intensified in both frequency and severity, since the construction of the dams — many of which are now in a state of disrepair, according to a new white paper, published by Utah State University. “Removing dangerous and obsolete dams and barriers improves resilience to flooding, drought, increasing temperatures, sea level rise, and changing rivers,” said lead author Sarah Null, a professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University, in a statement. … ” Read more from The Hill.
Guiding California’s land transitions toward justice and equity
“Low-income, rural communities in California’s Central Valley face the impacts caused by decades of intensive agriculture such as depleted groundwater, drinking water insecurity, poor air quality, and a lack of fundamental infrastructure that leaves our communities particularly vulnerable to climate change. Cropland retirement will further hinder socioeconomic opportunities for these community members as their livelihoods are often tied to agriculture. While challenges faced by California’s rural frontline communities are numerous and daunting, the state’s proposed investments in groundwater sustainability, climate change resilience, and in multibenefit land repurposing present an opportunity to address these challenges while also improving the environment and the economy. … ” Read more from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
From green icon to housing villain: The fall of California’s landmark environmental law
“The revolution is now a fortified construction site. Just blocks from UC Berkeley, steel boxes and concertina wire ring the storied People’s Park. Behind them: the skeletal frame of a student dormitory, rising where protesters once clashed in one of the nation’s most famously progressive cities.Neighbors and activists fought the campus housing complex at every turn — including through a novel legal argument: Excessive noise from its boisterous young tenants should be considered an environmental impact under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act. The project took six years to break ground — and became a symbol of how state legislation Ronald Reagan signed in 1970 to protect air and water and check rampant development was being used to block desperately needed new homes. It also helped hasten the law’s slide — from a pillar of California’s climate leadership to a cautionary tale about the ruling party’s inability to tackle a perpetual housing shortage — that culminated last month in a major rollback. … ” Read more from Politico.
Winds behind fierce California wildfires will change, study finds. Here’s what it means
“Santa Ana winds have driven some of California’s most devastating wildfires, including the destructive Palisades and Eaton fires that scorched Los Angeles in January. A new study reports that these hot, dry winds will become less frequent in the future. But more rare Santa Ana winds could bring increasing danger, researchers from Princeton University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory found. When the winds do arrive, they will be drier than they are today and could pose greater wildfire risk to coastal Southern California, according to the study. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
In commentary today …
Policymakers must protect CA waters from federal deregulation
Martha Guzman, former US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Administrator, writes, “If there is one thing the new Trump Administration has proven it’s that our precious democracy can go through great fluctuations depending on who resides in the White House. … The Supreme Court’s now-infamous Sackett v. EPA decision dramatically reduced the reach of the Clean Water Act, leaving many formerly protected waterways and wetlands much harder to protect from pollution, especially in the West. Fortunately, we have leadership in California to ensure this seismic disruption in policy is muted by a response that could expedite how state law will capture the same protections that federal clean water permits once did. SB 601 (Allen), also known as The Right to Clean Water Act, attempts to piece back together the regulatory system established under the federal Clean Water Act over the past five decades. … ” Read more from Capitol Weekly.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
After Dam Removal: What’s next for the Klamath?
Felice Pace writes, “Virtually all those who have been deeply involved in native fish restoration within the Klamath River Basin understand and acknowledge that dam removal is not enough, that more needs to be done if we are going to restore Koptu (Lost River Sucker), C’waam (Shortnose Sucker) and Ama (Klamath Salmon) to abundance. However, there is currently no process whereby those who want aquatic ecosystems and the fisheries they support restored can come together to figure out what next step priorities will be. If that does not change, tribal and other government officials will decide what next steps to take without any process that consults their own citizens and others who actually live and work in this river basin. … ” Read the full post at KlamBlog.
McK project nurtures fish
“California Trout (CalTrout) announced last week that the Baduwa’t (Mad River) estuary restoration project has been successful in providing natural habitat to numerous threatened species, according to new monitoring data. The 9.3-acre project, designed by Northern Hydrology and Engineering, and completed in partnership with McKinleyville Community Services District in late 2022, transformed former wastewater percolation ponds into floodplain habitat that is now successfully supporting a thriving ecosystem. … ” Read more from the Mad River Union.
Fisherfolk! It is time once again to go kill all the Eel River pikeminnow you can find, and maybe win a prize
““Go get ‘em!” The Eel River Pikeminnow Fishing Derby is back again, after over 500 fish were caught in the 2024 derby. The derby is put on by a collaboration of groups working to restore native fishes in the Eel River. From now through August 31st, anyone with a fishing license (or if under 16 years of age, no license is necessary) can go and catch pikeminnow on the Eel for a chance to win up to $500, with $2,500 in cash prizes! There is no entry fee. Data from your catches can help managers aid in the conservation of our native fishes. … ” Read more from the Lost Coast Outpost.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Tahoe State of the Lake Report released for 2024
“The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center today released its “Tahoe: State of the Lake Report,” which presents data from 2024 in the context of the long-term record. Framed in a historical context amid past and ongoing environmental challenges, the report provides an annual update for non-scientists on the Lake Tahoe Basin’s ecological health. UC Davis has conducted research at Lake Tahoe since 1950, and scientists from UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center have been monitoring conditions at the lake continuously since 1968. This has created a unique document of change for one of the world’s most iconic and vulnerable lakes. “As the new director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environment Research Center, I have had the opportunity this year to see our work on the magnificent Lake Tahoe ecosystem through fresh eyes,” said TERC Director Stephanie Hampton, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy. “We take this moment to examine not only the past and present state of the lake, but appreciate the infrastructure we have put in place that will enable us to explore new research frontiers.” … ” Read more from UC Davis.
Tahoe receives approval of first two fuels reduction projects under Governor Newsom’s fast-tracking
“Two Tahoe Basin fuels reduction projects have undergone review and approval through Governor Gavin Newsom’s fast tracking process and are set to start late summer to early fall. One approval is an almost 200-acre project located near Carnelian Bay, called the Vedanta Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, and the other is a 43-acre project near the Tahoe Keys, called the Tahoe Keys Large Acreage project.In the case of the Tahoe Keys project, the fast tracking process has saved one year. Without the process, it wouldn’t have started until fall of next year. This project ranked high on the priority list for the California Tahoe Conservancy, and its partners, the City of South Lake Tahoe, USDA Forest Service, and South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, due to its location near a heavily populated residential area. It’s a factor that added to its fitness for the Governor’s fast-tracking process. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Yuba Water’s latest grant funding supports levee improvements, critical water infrastructure upgrades and wildfire resilience
“Yuba Water Agency approved more than $6.2 million in grants for major levee improvements along the Feather River north of Marysville, water supply reliability throughout the county and wildfire resilience in Dobbins and Oregon House.A $5.25 million grant awarded to Reclamation District 10 will help the district improve an 8,500-foot stretch of levee on the east bank of the Feather River along the Highway 70 corridor north of Marysville. The funds will be used to plan, design and permit a project that will reduce seepage and improve the levee’s resilience when flows increase along the Feather. … ” Read more from YubaNet.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Chico: Judge scratches federal approval of Northern California mixed-use project
“A federal judge on Thursday overturned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of a 314-acre mixed-use development in Chico, California, that environmentalists claim will destroy vernal pools that are the natural habitat of several threatened species. U.S. District Judge Daniel Calabretta granted in part the request for summary judgment by the plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity and AquAlliance — and halted implementation of the Stonegate Development Project until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has prepared a legally adequate biological opinion that the development wouldn’t jeopardize protected species. The judge, a Joe Biden appointee, agreed with the two environmental advocacy nonprofits that the service’s 2020 biological opinion that was the basis for federal approval of the project failed to sufficiently take into consideration the effects of climate change on the protected shrimp and other species that live in the pools that fill with water during the rainy season and dry up in the summer. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
NAPA/SONOMA
Drying up: Sonoma County’s quiet disaster you need to know about
“Sonoma County’s groundwater is quietly vanishing beneath our feet, and the numbers are alarming. In parts of Sonoma Valley, deep aquifers have plummeted nearly 100 feet in the last decade, according to recent reports from the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA). With some wells dropping as much as eight feet per year, residents and businesses alike have good reason to be worried. Farmers, particularly vineyards that form the backbone of Sonoma County’s economy, are among the hardest hit. The wine industry, reliant on groundwater for irrigation and frost protection, faces skyrocketing costs as pumps must now reach deeper and work harder. Drilling a new well can cost $50,000 or more, a financial blow that smaller family-run vineyards find especially daunting. Sonoma Valley has responded by expanding a recycled water pipeline on the east side, delivering treated wastewater for irrigation and reducing pressure on depleted aquifers. … ” Read more from the Sonoma Gazette.
SEE ALSO: Urgent Groundwater Action Needed in Sonoma Valley: New Priority Areas Identified, from the Sonoma Sun
How Sonoma’s oldest vines are beating climate odds
“Giuseppe Martinelli arrived in Forestville in 1887 with calloused hands and a cart full of Zinfandel cuttings. Today, his great-great-granddaughter Tessa Gorsuch crouches in the same dirt, examining grape clusters that hang heavy with four generations of accumulated knowledge. The vines have grown thick as telephone poles, their bark scarred by decades of pruning, their root systems sprawling 15 feet into Russian River Valley clay that holds the memory of every drought, every flood, every harvest. “Napa has the money,” Gorsuch says, standing and dusting soil from her knees. “We have the ghosts.” The ghosts are everywhere in Sonoma County—in the spacing between vine rows that reflects 1920s tractor widths, in the stone foundations of wineries that survived Prohibition by bottling sacramental wine, in the muscle memory of families who can read weather patterns their neighbors have forgotten. Last week, 22 of these ghost-haunted families received formal recognition through Sonoma County’s new “Century Club,” a designation that sounds ceremonial but carries the weight of institutional survival. … ” Read more from the Sonoma Gazette.
American Canyon brings in new legal chief as city battles Vallejo over water
“In a rare shift in legal leadership, the American Canyon City Council on Tuesday appointed Teresa Highsmith as city attorney, only the second person to hold the role since the city’s incorporation in 1992. The move signals a major change in who will oversee legal strategy and guide the city through high-stakes litigation, including ongoing lawsuits with Vallejo over water rights. Highsmith, a veteran municipal lawyer whose firm represents about 150 agencies statewide, will replace Bill Ross, who has served in the post since the city’s founding. Like Ross, Highsmith will work under contract rather than as a city employee. Her firm, Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, will charge $275 per hour for most services and $385 per hour for litigation and specialized matters, according to its proposal. … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
BAY AREA
Brentwood council votes to lower previously approved water rates
“After cost-saving measures by the city, an expected hike in water rates for Brentwood residents has been cut nearly in half. The Brentwood City Council voted unanimously on July 1 to lower the rate from the previously approved 6.5% to the recommended 4% for the 2025/26 fiscal year. Public Works Director Casey Wichert said as part of the ongoing fiscal review, staff determined there wasn’t a necessity to have the original 6.5% increase, largely due to operational savings. “The weather, believe it or not, causes the biggest impact on the treatment plant,” said Wichert. “Lower chemical usage associated with good quality water in the Delta is the major reason for that.” … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
CENTRAL COAST
Greenfield City Council considers a moratorium on new building due to wastewater treatment capacity.
“Greenfield City Council is on the path to passing a moratorium halting construction within city limits. The culprit: capacity at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. On July 8, City Council members discussed the predicament. Doing nothing or passing a moratorium might negatively affect the city’s continued growth. “Greenfield’s economy relies on growth in agriculture, light industry, and residential development,” according to a report by Greenfield Public Works Director Jamie Tugel to the city council. “A moratorium could discourage developers from pursuing projects, pushing investment to neighboring cities like Salinas or King City.” Approving a moratorium would buy time and reduce strain on the plant’s aging infrastructure, preventing potential spills, fines and costly repairs. … ” Read more from Monterey Now.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
California Supreme Court takes up Kern Water diversion case
“The California Supreme Court has granted review of the Kern River water diversions case and will decide whether to uphold a lower court order requiring the city of Bakersfield to keep sufficient water in the river to protect fish. The Supreme Court review was requested by a coalition of environmental groups challenging the water diversions, which have drained the Kern River and killed thousands of fish to supply water for agriculture. “I’m hopeful that the state’s highest court will recognize that Kern River water is a public asset that shouldn’t be monopolized, so corporate agricultural water users need to leave something for fish and people downstream,” said John Buse, a senior counsel at Center for Biological Diversity. “These water diversions have killed fish, while robbing recreational opportunities from community members who want a healthy river.” … ” Read more from the Center for Biological Diversity.
SEE ALSO: ‘Bring Back The Kern’ lawsuit heads to California Supreme Court, from Channel 12
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Desert Knolls Wash Project in Apple Valley aims to mitigate stormwater pollution; here’s how
“Heavy earth-moving equipment working between the Mojave River and Highway 18 in Apple Valley has drawn the attention of many residents. The San Bernardino County Flood Control District is the lead agency for the Desert Knolls Wash project, which includes several improvements and modifications to a segment of the wash, county officials stated. The wash runs near a residential area that includes the campus of Academy for Academic Excellence and Lewis Center for Educational Research.“We’re going to concrete the slopes of the wash to mitigate erosion,” Ames Construction Project Engineer Haeden Hooper told the Daily Press. “Right now, we just moved a lot of rock and did a large excavation of about 70,000 cubic yards of dirt.” … ” Read more from the Victorville Daily Press.
IMPERIAL VALLEY
IID pushes to protect farmland from solar projects
“The Imperial Irrigation District has taken a stance on where solar energy projects should go. The board passed a resolution saying too much farmland in the Imperial Valley is being replaced with solar panels. Most of the power from these projects goes to big cities like San Diego, not the local community. IID officials say they support solar development, but not at the expense of agriculture. “One in every six jobs in the Imperial Valley is directly related to agriculture, so solar is great, as long as it’s not on ag land,” said Robert Schettler with IID. The district also says farmland plays a role in helping the Salton Sea. … ” Read more from KYMA.
SAN DIEGO
San Diego water customers probably won’t get a break from steep rate hikes
“Relief from huge proposed rate hikes for San Diego water and sewer customers is looking less likely, after a consultant recommended no rate changes and after a City Council committee tentatively endorsed the increases Thursday. City officials are proposing 62% hikes to water rates and 31% hikes to sewer rates over four years to cover sharply rising costs for workers, imported water, chemicals, energy, construction projects and other priorities. The increases, which would incrementally kick in between January 2026 and January 2029, need final approval from the full council during a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 30. But the city’s independent budget analyst said Thursday that what is usually a key opportunity for a reprieve — a legally mandated second opinion from an outside consultant — won’t be providing relief this time around. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Along the Colorado River …
Southwestern drought likely to continue through 2100, research finds
“The drought in the Southwestern U.S. is likely to last for the rest of the 21st century and potentially beyond as global warming shifts the distribution of heat in the Pacific Ocean, according to a study published last week led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. Using sediment cores collected in the Rocky Mountains, paleoclimatology records and climate models, the researchers found warming driven by greenhouse gas emissions can alter patterns of atmospheric and marine heat in the North Pacific Ocean in a way resembling what’s known as the negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), fluctuations in sea surface temperatures that result in decreased winter precipitation in the American Southwest. But in this case, the phenomenon can last far longer than the usual 30-year cycle of the PDO. “If the sea surface temperature patterns in the North Pacific were just the result of processes related to stochastic [random] variability in the past decade or two, we would have just been extremely unlucky, like a really bad roll of the dice,” said Victoria Todd, the lead author of the study and a Ph.D student in geosciences at UT Austin. “But if, as we hypothesize, this is a forced change in the sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific, this will be sustained into the future, and we need to start looking at this as a shift, instead of just the result of bad luck.” … ” Read more from Inside Climate News.
Lake Mead levels could drop below historic lows by mid-2027
“Lake Mead, Southern Nevada’s largest water source, could fall below historic lows by mid-2027, according to a recent projection by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The water resource management agency projects Lake Mead’s water elevation could drop to about 1,038 feet by the end of June 2027, according to a 24-month forward-looking study released Tuesday. That is roughly 2 feet lower than the historic lows seen in July 2022. Lake Mead’s water elevation was at about 1,054 feet as of Thursday. Bronson Mack, spokesperson for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the Bureau’s monthly study gives regional water managers an understanding of how water use and precipitation and runoff may influence the elevations of the river’s reservoirs. … ” Read more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
SEE ALSO: Lake Mead level steady, but 2-year outlook shows trouble in 2027, from KLAS
Return of the Deadpool Diaries: The Colorado River news keeps getting worse
John Fleck writes, “With the latest Bureau of Reclamation model runs highlighting the serious risks posed by the declining reservoir levels that Utah State’s Jack Schmidt has been warning about, there are signs that the closed-room discussions among the seven basin states, after brief glimmers of hope last month, are once again not going well. The latest Bureau of Reclamation 24-month studies show a clear risk of Lake Powell dropping below minimum power pool in late 2026, with Lake Mead dropping to elevation 1,025 by the summer of 2027. This should be hair on fire stuff. The “clear risk” here is based on Reclamation’s monthly “minimum probable” model runs – what happens if we have bad snowpacks next year, and the year after? These are probabilistic estimates, not predictions. But the whole point of Reclamation doing this is so that we can be prepared. We need a robust public discussion about what our plan is if we end up on this fork in the hydrologic road. … ” Read more from the Inkstain blog.
New research finds sky-high insecticide levels in Colorado water
“Adding to evidence about the pervasiveness of pesticides that endanger human and environmental health, new research has found widely used insecticides in Colorado waterways at levels 100 times higher than what researchers say is needed to protect aquatic life. Neonicotinoids (neonics), the most widely used types of insecticides in the nation, were present at sky-high levels in both surface and groundwater samples, according to a report published this week by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The analysis, which relied on federal and state water testing data, concluded that agricultural seeds coated in neonics are likely to blame for the heavily contaminated water. This contamination “is likely causing significant and widespread damage to aquatic ecosystems and an increase in human exposure from groundwater,” the report states. … ” Read more from the New Lede.
Wyoming irrigators frustrated by getting shut off earlier in Colorado River basin
“For Mike Vickrey, a rancher in Wyoming’s Upper Green River Valley, this summer delivered another harsh lesson about the unpredictability of water in the arid West. Despite what appeared to be a promising winter snowpack, Vickrey had to shut off irrigation to his hay meadows about 10 days earlier than normal. “The winter was OK, although I don’t think it was as good as all the SNOTEL (snowpack telemetry) were telling us,” Vickrey told Cowboy State Daily. “The grass was so dry, it just took more moisture to suck up into the ground early.” Vickrey wonders if early water cutoffs are here to stay as all the states in the Colorado River Basin continue to negotiate how to manage Lake Mead and Lake Powell downstream as less and less water flows through a watershed stretching from the Wind River Mountains to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. … ” Read more from Cowboy State Daily.
In national water news today …
House draft bill proposes reductions to Drinking, Clean Water SRFs
“This week, the House of Representatives released a draft of the FY26 Interior-Environment appropriations bill, which includes proposals for federal water infrastructure appropriations in 2026. Of note, the draft bill calls for a 20% reduction to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and a 26% reduction to the Clean Water SRF. The draft appropriations bill would also preserve funding levels for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program and other water infrastructure programs. … ” Read more from Water Finance & Management.
US wetlands ‘restored’ using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals
“Many of the nation’s wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn. Effluent is the liquid discharged by wastewater treatment plants after it “disinfects” sewage in the nation’s sewer system. The treatment process largely kills pathogens and the water is high in nutrients that help plants grow, so on one level it is beneficial to struggling ecosystems. But the treatment process does not address any of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals potentially discharged into sewers, including Pfas. Testing has found effluent virtually always contains Pfas at concerning levels, but the practice of using it for wetland restoration is still presented as an environmentally friendly measure. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
EPA nudges out more staff, announces ‘next phase’ of reorg
“EPA is moving to shed more employees and overhaul its enforcement work as the Trump administration continues its efforts to downsize and revamp the agency. The agency is offering another round of incentives to resign or retire early for staff who work in offices including the stand-alone science shop, the enforcement office, staffers in regional offices, those who had previously received layoff notices, and others, according to an email sent to staff Thursday and obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. The move to downsize with another round of “deferred resignation” and early retirement incentives comes after a significant chunk of EPA’s staff has already left the agency during the Trump administration. More than 1,500 employees signed on to leave the agency during its most recent round of incentives for staff departures, according to figures provided by EPA earlier this month. … ” Read more from E&E News.
The national parks are not OK
“Stories of struggle flow unceasingly from our public lands — here, a senior botanist pulled from invasive species removal to check campgrounds for unattended fires; there, a trail crew fired, leaving backcountry areas inaccessible after timber blowdowns. Elsewhere, fire crews are bracing for destructive wildland blazes without the necessary backup from extra personnel certified to help. The Trump administration has already cut thousands of employees from the U.S. Forest Service, Park Service and Bureau of Land Management, and thousands more workers now fear for their jobs after the Supreme Court gave the administration the green light. And yet, on the surface, many national parks and even Forest Service campgrounds appear to be managing business as usual. … ” Read more from High Country News.
U.S. hit with record number of flash flood warnings
“More than 3,000 flash flood warnings have been issued in the United States so far this year — the highest number on record, according to data from Iowa State University. A total of 3,040 warnings from the National Weather Service went out from Jan. 1 through July 15, according to figures compiled by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet, which collects and tracks data on precipitation, soil temperature and other environmental conditions. That’s more than any other year during that same time period since 1986, when the modern alert system was adopted. The new record portends a wetter and rainier future that experts say is likely because of climate change. Studies have shown that severe storms and extreme rainfall are both expected to occur more frequently in a warming world. … ” Read more from NBC News.
Trump defends Texas flood handling as disaster tests vow to shutter FEMA
“During a trip on Friday to look at the devastation caused by the catastrophic flooding in Texas, Donald Trump claimed that state and federal officials had done an “incredible job”, saying of the disaster that he had “never seen anything like this”. The trip comes as he has remained conspicuously quiet about his previous promises to do away with the federal agency in charge of disaster relief. The Washington Post reported on Friday that the Trump administration has backed away from plans to abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but administration officials continue to dodge questions about the agency’s future and many are still calling for serious reforms, potentially sending much of its work to the states. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
MAKING CONSERVATION A CA WAY OF LIFE: Variance and temporary provision materials and webinar announcement
