A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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In California water news this week …
State zeroes in on the sinking San Joaquin Valley
“Newly released state guidelines on how to get a handle on subsidence, or land sinking, were received with mixed reactions after they were released by the Department of Water Resources on Thursday. The guidelines provide some basic, but pointed, advice on how San Joaquin Valley groundwater managers can best stop, slow or even reverse subsidence, which a 2014 report shows had cost billions of dollars up to that time in history. Managers should put more water, lots more, into withered aquifers to bring land elevations back up, according to the new guidelines. They should better understand the substrata of their regions in order to predict how over pumping will impact the land. And they should act regionally. One groundwater agency or water district can’t fix the problem without help from surrounding districts, the new guidelines state. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
The drying planet: Groundwater pumping becoming one of the largest drivers of global sea level rise
“As the planet gets hotter and its reservoirs shrink and its glaciers melt, people have increasingly drilled into a largely ungoverned, invisible cache of fresh water: the vast, hidden pools found deep underground. Now, a new study that examines the world’s total supply of fresh water — accounting for its rivers and rain, ice and aquifers together — warns that Earth’s most essential resource is quickly disappearing, signaling what the paper’s authors describe as “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.” The landmasses of the planet are drying. In most places there is less precipitation even as moisture evaporates from the soil faster. More than anything, Earth is being slowly dehydrated by the unmitigated mining of groundwater, which underlies vast proportions of every continent. … Both California and Arizona grow significant portions of America’s fruits and vegetables. Something has to give. “If you want to grow food in a place like California,” Famiglietti asked, “do you just bring in water? If we deplete that groundwater, I don’t think there’s enough water to really replace what we’re doing there.” The United States might not have much choice, he added, but to move California’s agriculture production somewhere far away and retire the land. … ” Read more from Pro Publica.
SEE ALSO: 8 Things to Know About New Research on Earth’s Rapid Drying and the Loss of Its Groundwater, from Pro Publica
‘A hidden threat’: San Mateo lawmaker warns of rising groundwater risks, seeks study funding
“A Bay Area lawmaker is pushing for new federal legislation to study the threat rising groundwater poses — a hidden but growing environmental danger that experts say could worsen flooding, damage infrastructure, and contaminate drinking water. U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, last month introduced the Groundwater Rise and Infrastructure Preparedness Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill co-authored with Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., that seeks $5 million in initial funding to assess the risks rising groundwater poses to public health and critical infrastructure like roads, utilities, and sewer systems. The measure would also support the development of long-term mitigation strategies. Mullin held a press conference Tuesday morning in South San Francisco to discuss his new legislation and the region’s flood and groundwater rise threats with local environmental and government leaders…. ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
Groundwater depletion sinks home prices in California’s Central Valley
“A UC Riverside study has found that as land in California’s Central Valley sinks due to excessive groundwater pumping, so do local housing values. The research found that homes in subsiding — or gradually sinking — areas lost between 2.4% and 5.8% of their sale value. In dollar terms, that translates to losses between $6,689 and $16,165 per home. These costs totaled $1.87 billion in aggregate housing value lost across the Central Valley due to subsidence, the study estimated. “Basically, the land is sinking and so are the property values,” said Mehdi Nemati, a UCR assistant professor of environmental economics and policy who led the study. “This is the first time anyone has quantified how much land subsidence costs homeowners in this region.” … ” Read more from UC Riverside.
Farmers in west Fresno County groundwater agency to consider 200% pumping fee hike
“A western Fresno County groundwater agency hopes to increase pumping fees by about 212%, from $8 per acre foot to $25 per acre foot, in a bid to avoid state intervention. The Pleasant Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) board agreed at its July 29 meeting to put the proposed fee hike to a vote of its growers through a Proposition 218 election, which is required before increasing land assessment or pumping fees. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28 where growers can protest the proposed increase. If the pumping fee hike succeeds, the Pleasant Valley Water District, which also acts as the GSA, would reduce existing land assessment fees from $6 per acre to $3.25 per acre. The money from the pumping fee is needed, according to GSA board members, to pay for a revised groundwater plan. The Department of Water Resources deemed the region’s existing plan inadequate in February. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
From vision to reality: Advancing the Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project
“The Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project aims to create a regional water bank in the Kern Fan area, capable of recharging and storing up to 100,000 acre-feet of unallocated Article 21 water from the State Water Project. Operated by Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District (Rosedale), the project prioritizes water storage during wet years. Proposition 1 of 2014 dedicated $2.7 billion for investments in water storage projects, which the California Water Commission administers through the Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP). The Kern Fan Project is one of the five remaining projects that must complete the remaining requirements to receive their funding award. Those requirements include final permits, environmental documents, contracts for the administration of public benefits, and commitments for the remaining project costs. At the July meeting of the California Water Commission, Fiona Nye, Project Manager and Director of Water Resources for Irvine Ranch Water District; and Dan Bartel, General Manager with the Groundwater Banking Joint Powers Authority, the project proponent for the Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project, updated the Commission on their progress toward completing the Water Storage Investment Program requirements. … ” Continue reading at Maven’s Notebook.
DWR: New key concept presentation video on subsidence released
“DWR has released an approximately 30-minute lecture-style presentation video about a key concept presented in the draft BMP document: the role of critical head in managing land subsidence. Groundwater managers and practitioners may be interested in gaining some insight on this topic when making decisions to comply with SGMA. This presentation explains the science and mechanics of subsidence, introduces the concept of critical head, and describes how subsidence can be managed using critical head. The video presentation also provides examples of subsidence and critical head data in the San Joaquin Valley. … ” View video here.
California harbor suffers close to $1 million in damage from tsunami waves
“Crescent City — one of California’s northernmost towns and Del Norte County’s lone city — took a close-to-$1 million hit to its harbor after tsunami waves battered the North Coast earlier this week. Harbormaster Mike Rademaker told SFGATE in a call that initial estimates put the damage from rough seas triggered by the 8.8-magnitude quake off Russia’s coast at $100,000. Now, Rademaker said, “It’s probably getting closer to $1 million.” Although tsunami warnings were issued for the entire West Coast and Hawaii late Tuesday night into Wednesday, most areas saw minimal impact. Crescent City was the exception. It recorded the highest tsunami waves in the continental U.S. — up to 4 feet — with powerful surges arriving just before dawn, lifting docks off their pilings and slamming the harbor. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Federal forestry cuts fuel wildfire, resource concerns
“As wildfire conditions across California are expected to increase steadily through the summer, state officials this month expressed concerns about cuts in staff and funding at federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, a division within the Agriculture Department that partners with the state to fight wildfires and manage forests. California is home to 18 national forests, with 48% of its land owned and managed by the federal government. “On critical priorities like wildfire, safety and water supplies, federal agency effectiveness is critical,” California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said during a webinar in which he and other state officials discussed potential impacts of federal staffing reductions to the state’s natural resources, including forests. … ” Read more from Ag Alert.
In commentary this week …
Will the Bay-Delta Plan succeed? It has a good chance if the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Alternative is allowed to work
The California Farm Water Coalition writes, “On July 24, 2025, the State Water Resources Control Board released an updated Bay-Delta Water Plan, a critical framework designed to protect the ecological health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta while addressing California’s diverse water demands. The plan outlines two primary approaches—the Unimpaired Flow Alternative and the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (or Voluntary Agreements) alternative, to balance water quality, ecosystem restoration, and water supply needs. So, what are the key differences between these approaches? How is their success evaluated? And what is the unimpaired flow alternative water users may have to adopt? A dive into the Plan helps answer those questions, and more. … ” Continue reading from the California Farm Water Coalition.
Want food security? Keep water on Western farms
Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, and Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, write, “In the distant past, hunters and gatherers relied on what nature provided. Today, farmers grow food for billions of people around the globe—and that takes water. Yet there’s a growing drumbeat about the amount of water agriculture consumes in the Colorado River Basin and beyond. Critics say farmers use a disproportionate share compared to cities and if farmers would simply use less, there would be plenty for everyone else. There’s no question every water user must pursue efficiency, and urban areas have made impressive gains. Los Angeles cut total water use by 28% between 1986 and 2023, even as its population grew by 16.5%. Farmers, too, have been innovating for decades. In California, crop value increased 86.5% over four decades while water use dropped by nearly 15%, according to the Department of Water Resources. Farmers have embraced technology to do more with less. But the conversation can’t end there. Farmland across the West is vanishing—lost due to water shortages and swallowed up by urban sprawl. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun.
Editorial: Bill would make it easier to ‘plant’ solar panels on dry farmland. Great idea
The McClatchy California editorial board writes, “On paper, it sounds like a perfect trade-off: Take unproductive farmland — much of it located in California’s San Joaquin Valley — and replant it with acres of solar panels that can power hundreds of thousands of homes. Except there’s a hitch. A lot of that farmland is tied up in long-term Williamson Act contracts, which entitle owners to big property tax breaks as long as they keep their acreage in ag or open space. Landowners can cancel their contracts prematurely, but they must pay a stiff penalty based on the value of their property. … That program has not been a rousing success; over its first nine years, only three applicants pursued solar easements under SB 618, according to the state Department of Conservation. Now, another bill, AB 1156, would expand eligibility to include land that can no longer be farmed due to water shortages. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Editorial: USDA reorganization snubs ag-rich California. That is not good
The Fresno Bee editorial board writes, “Failing to place one of five U.S. Department of Agriculture hubs in California is as ludicrous as thinking you can grow bananas on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. That is exactly what Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is doing with her reorganization plans to decentralize the Washington, D.C.-based department whose portfolio includes farming, forestry, nutrition and food safety. Rollins announced the revamping of the 100,000-employee department by pushing the majority of the workforce into hubs in Utah, Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri. “American agriculture feeds, clothes and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers and producers we are mandated to support,” said Rollins in a statement last Thursday. “President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country.” … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee.
SEE ALSO: Lawmakers question USDA’s plan to relocate over half of D.C.-based workforce, from the Center Square
Logging saves species and increases our water supply
Edward Ring, Director of Water and Energy Policy at the California Policy Center, writes, “There are obvious benefits to logging, grazing, prescribed burns, and mechanical thinning of California’s forests. When you suppress wildfires for what is now over a century, then overregulate and suppress any other means to thin the forest, you get overcrowded and unhealthy forests. California’s trees now have 5 to 10 times more than a historically normal density. They’re competing for an insufficient share of light, water and nutrients, leading to disease, infestations, dehydration and death. Up through the 1980s, California harvested 6 billion board feet per year of timber; the annual harvest is now 25 percent of that. We have turned our forests into tinderboxes, and that is the reason fires turn into superfires. How we manage our forests affects our water supply in two critical ways. Massive wildfires consume vegetation and leave soil vulnerable to erosion. As USGS put it after the Caldor Fire, when rains arrive, the unfiltered runoff creates “increased sediment transport in streams. This sediment surge can fill up water-storage space in reservoirs, damage infrastructure, and disrupt water supplies.” … ” Read more from Edward Ring.
Shifting the burden of dirty waters
Hiding weather data harms more than hurricane forecasts
Columnist Mark Gongloff writes, “The Butterfly Effect is the chaos-theory idea that the flapping of an insect’s tiny wings can influence massive weather events far removed from it in distance and time. It may overstate the importance of butterflies, but it is a reminder of how small actions can have larger, unforeseen consequences. An even clearer example is the Trump administration’s recent decision to stop sharing military satellite data with weather forecasters just ahead of what will be a busy hurricane season. The effects will reverberate far beyond weather forecasting, threatening lives and livelihoods and even accelerating the nation’s growing home-insurance crisis. Late last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the National Weather Service, said it would stop receiving weather data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, including readings that have long helped forecasters peer inside hurricanes to predict whether they will intensify rapidly. This information is especially useful at night, when some other observational tools aren’t available and communities in a storm’s path are at their most vulnerable to an unexpected strengthening. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
In regional water news this week …
California’s newly undammed river just opened for visitors: 5 tips for heading to the Klamath
“With the removal of four dams on the Klamath River, Californians now have a new place to kayak, raft, fish and explore. In the footprints of century-old reservoirs in a remote area near the Oregon border is a fresh 45-mile stretch of restored river that flows freely through a varied landscape of striking basalt canyons, evergreen forests and grassy valleys. There’s palpable excitement in witnessing the river corridor come back to life, and opportunities abound for world-class whitewater paddling and steelhead fishing. Local guides are already offering fishing and rafting trips. “It’s like having a new river in California all of a sudden – even though it’s actually the return of a very old river,” said Scott Harding, Stewardship Associate with American Whitewater, which advocated for public access to the newly restored river. “It’s incredibly exciting.” … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
PG&E submits plan to tear down Potter Valley Project
“For over a century, the Potter Valley Project has been funneling water from the wild Eel River to the Russian River Valley’s thirsty vineyards, towns and farms. But that engineered connection, sustained by a pair of aging PG&E dams in the hills of Mendocino and Lake counties, may soon become history. On July 24, PG&E formally submitted its Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan for the Potter Valley Project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, marking a pivotal step in the utility’s plan to walk away from the century-old water diversion system. The long-anticipated move follows years of public debate, environmental review and bitter divides between water users, conservationists and tribal leaders over the project’s future. … ” Read more from MendoFever.
After nearly 100 years, adult winter-run Chinook salmon seen in California river
“Adult winter-run Chinook salmon have been spotted in northern California’s McCloud River for the first time in nearly a century, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). The salmon were confirmed to be seen near Ash Camp, tucked deep in the mountains of northern California where Hawkins creek flows into the McCloud River. A video posted by CDFW and taken by the Pacific states marine fisheries commission shows a female Chinook salmon guarding her nest of eggs on the river floor. Winter-run Chinook salmon is considered an endangered species by Noaa, and is marked by the organization as “one of just nine species considered to be most at risk of extinction in the near-term”. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe welcomes 80,000 salmon eggs to McCloud river this summer
“The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, along with partners NOAA and CDFW, welcomes 80,000 salmon eggs to the Winnemem Waywaket (McCloud River) this summer as part of a groundbreaking mission to reintroduce salmon to the watershed. This is the fourth year of the project. The first batch of eggs was delivered on July 12th, with the remainder coming on July 26th, August 16th, and August 23rd, where the Tribe and partners will greet them with ceremony and prayer. The eggs, which originate from the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery, will be raised in a “Nur Nature Base,” a remote egg incubation system located on the McCloud River that provides a more wild-like rearing setting than conventional hatchery operations. The alevins and fry will have a chance to imprint to the natural rocks and plants of the river, practice swimming in a variety of currents and temperatures, and choose when to leave into the river, where they will either stay in the upper tributaries of the McCloud to feed and grow, or start making their journey downstream toward the ocean. Traps will be placed in the lower McCloud River to catch salmon and move them around Shasta and Keswick Dams to be released into the Sacramento River, near Redding. … ” Read more from the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
PCWA preparing to restore full untreated water deliveries following PG&E repairs at Lake Spaulding
“Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) is preparing to restore full untreated water deliveries to customers following Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) completion of repairs at Lake Spaulding Powerhouse No. 1 and resumption of water flows into Rollins Reservoir beginning July 24. With flows now refilling the reservoir—a key source for PCWA’s canal system— PCWA anticipates full service for affected customers will resume by August 15. PG&E first reported critical damage to its Spaulding facility in March of 2024 and cut off releases from Spaulding Reservoir during the summer of 2024 while it completed the first phase of repairs. PG&E began the second phase of repairs this past spring and again halted water flows during the work. … ” Read more from Placer County Water Agency.
SEE ALSO: Water is once again flowing to NID’s Rollins and Scotts Flat reservoirs, from the Nevada Irrigation District
Berkeley says dogs — and people — shouldn’t dig in popular park atop contaminated landfill
“Half a year after tests revealed elevated levels of radiation lurking underground beneath Berkeley’s beloved César Chávez Park built atop an old landfill, city officials this summer issued a set of new warnings. Dog walkers must prevent their animals from digging in the dirt. Volunteers and staff tending landscaping at the sprawling 90-acre waterfront park cannot plant or weed to avoid disturbing the soil. Any park construction project that could potentially penetrate the ground must halt. Even with these striking new regulations at one of the East Bay’s most popular parks, life continued as normal Thursday. Summer camp kids frolicked and played under an oak tree at a wind-swept outcropping by the bay. A man used a kite to lift himself into the air. People let their dogs run free. Berkeley residents wondered — how serious is the risk? … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Salinas Valley farmers still battling agencies over river capacity
“As natural disasters come and go, Salinas Valley farmer Jynel Gularte is trying to keep the two 2023 floods on the Salinas River at the forefront of discussions amidst a constant drum beat of climate change warnings and the need to be better prepared for life threatening events. Gularte is reminded of this daily as she drives River Road on the western edge of the Salinas Valley. Though the resilience of farmers rehabilitated farmland that is part of the nation’s “Salad Bowl,” flooding along the Salinas River will continue to be an issue of concern for farmers and those living in the region. The two floods of early 2023 may be history, but Gularte is trying to keep them top-of-mind as state and federal officials continue to warn of the need to be “climate smart” and resilient. Ironically, those same officials are doing nothing to open the river channel to allow for greater storm flows when the next storms happen. … ” Read more from the Western Farm Press.
Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …
NOTICE: Information for Presentation of Public Policy Statements on August 12, 2025, in the Water Right Hearing on the Proposed Delta Conveyance Project
NOTICE: Delta Farmland Conversion Study Comment Period – Through Sept. 8
