A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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In California water news this week …
Newsom Administration launches Delta Conveyance Project accountability plan, includes $200 million in funding and support for Delta communities
“The Newsom Administration is committed to supporting local communities that could be impacted during construction of the Delta Conveyance Project. To acknowledge and address those impacts, today the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released an Accountability Action Plan which memorializes a series of actions that holds DWR accountable to the local community in a transparent, trackable and measurable way. In addition to targeted and strategic communication and support, the plan establishes a $200 million Community Benefits Program for areas near the construction sites. The goal of the plan is to avoid, minimize, or offset potential impacts of project construction to residents, businesses, tribes, visitors to the Delta, and many others. The plan was developed, in part, to address concerns expressed in various community and public input forums during the planning process. … ” Read more from Governor Newsom. | Read reactions from Delta advocates and others.
Designing groundwater markets that support communities
“As California’s farmers adjust to restrictions on groundwater pumping under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), tools to foster adaptation can be a big help. Groundwater markets are one promising tool, but how can groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) design groundwater markets to protect those who might be affected by trading? Why markets? A well-designed market gives participants a way to navigate uncertainty. In California, surface water supplies can vary significantly from year to year. It can make a big difference to a grower’s bottom line if they’re able to trade for additional water during the growing season. And for growers who manage their water carefully, selling extra water can provide extra revenue. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
Turning science into policy: ETSGSA pioneers a water credit for cover crops
“One of the tenets of Sustainable Conservation’s programs is the need for science to drive practical solutions. Over the past two years, our Solutions in Our Soil program has worked alongside growers, researchers, and water managers to gather and report the scientific consensus of the water and soil benefits associated with cover crops in California’s diverse agricultural contexts. Cover crops are a known practice in California agriculture for reducing water runoff, increasing the amount of water that can infiltrate and stay in the soil, improving biodiversity, limiting groundwater pollution, and supporting better air quality, among other benefits. But under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), concerns persist about whether cover crops “count against” growers’ limited water budgets and begs the question, is cover cropping worth the risk? … ” Read more from Sustainable Conservation.
‘A dumping ground’: How, and why, did the Delta become a home for abandoned ships?
“The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta’s waterways span over a thousand miles. The region serves as a critical source of water for California, a transportation corridor linking ports in Sacramento and Stockton with the Bay Area, and a habitat for hundreds of wildlife species. But these rivers, streams and sloughs also conceal a man-made danger which poses significant environmental and navigational threats. Dozens of abandoned vessels — ranging from small speedboats and pleasure craft, to barges and cruise ships — litter the Delta, some of which have sat derelict for decades. … ” Read more from Capital Public Radio.
The price of water just got more complicated: San Diego’s legal battle over tiered rates
“On July 30, 2025, a divided California Court of Appeal issued its long-awaited opinion in Patz v. City of San Diego, affirming the trial court’s judgment that the City’s tiered residential water rates violated Proposition 218 of the California Constitution. The ruling reinforces the strict interpretation of cost-of-service requirements previously articulated in Coziahr v. Otay Water District. However, given the nearly 70-page dissenting opinion, the California Supreme Court may take up the case if the City seeks review. Patz was a class action challenge to the City of San Diego’s tiered water rate structure, under which residential customers were charged increasing rates (i.e., a tiered-rate structure) based on higher levels of water usage. The City argued that higher-volume users should pay more due to the increased infrastructure costs required to support peak demands, which is unnecessary for lower-use customers. The Court of Appeal rejected this rationale, holding that the City failed to demonstrate that its rates bore a reasonable relationship to the “proportional cost of service attributable to the parcel,” as required by Proposition 218. … ” Read more from Best Best & Krieger.
New ways of saving California salmon emphasize collaboration
“In better times, droves of young winter-run Chinook salmon would travel 300 miles downstream from the Sacramento River, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific. They would return as adults, shimmering silver and red, and spawn at their exact place of birth in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Today, fewer and fewer salmon are able to survive the journey. … California’s commercial salmon fishing ban and drought-induced water curtailment to agriculture have rallied an unlikely coalition of fishermen, farmers and water managers hoping to find solutions. And when California researchers identified a new nutritional stressor to salmon, fishermen set their distrust of the scientific community aside to assist with an all-hands-on-deck management plan.“We have so much in common,” said Johnny Atkinson, the Sausalito director for the Golden Gate Fishermen’s Association. “Instead of fighting each other, we’re sitting down and solving these issues.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Giant invasive frogs are wreaking havoc on the West
“On summer evenings in the Midwest, the muggy air comes alive with a chorus of crickets, cicadas, and frogs — especially bullfrogs. Their booming mating calls sound like something between a foghorn and a didgeridoo. As far as we know, summer here has always sounded like this. Bullfrogs are native to most of the Eastern US, from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast. They evolved here. They belong here. I, for one, adored them as a kid growing up in Iowa, and spent countless summer days trying to catch them to get a closer look. What’s unusual is that a few states west — into Colorado and on to California — summer nights are similarly marked by the iconic call of the American bullfrog. But here, they don’t belong. They’re unwanted. And they threaten the very existence of some of the West’s other amphibious animals, such as the Oregon spotted frog, which is found only in the Pacific Northwest. … ” Read more from Vox.
Summer 2025 drought and wildfire in 11 maps
“From the destructive Dragon Bravo Fire in the Grand Canyon to smokey skies in the Northeast due to Canadian wildfires, discover how drought and fire are impacting the U.S. this summer. Drought and wildfire interact in numerous ways. Many of the conditions that cause worsening drought can increase wildfire potential. Temperature, soil moisture, humidity, wind speed, and fuel availability (vegetation) are all factors that interact to influence the frequency of large wildfires. When fire sparks in an area that is in drought, drought can affect the intensity and severity of the fire. For example, rapidly drying abundant fuels in forest understories and grasslands after a wet spring can feed larger fires. This summer, hot and dry conditions are driving large wildfires in the Western U.S. Check out the 11 maps below to better understand the conditions underlying current large fires and what’s forecast for fire and drought in the coming months. … ” Read more from NIDIS.
In commentary this week …
California groundwater reform sets a dangerous precedent. Lawmakers should think twice
David Saint-Amand, board president of the Indian Wells Valley Water District, writes, “Assembly Bill 1413 seeks to quietly rewrite California’s water laws, raising alarm among local water agencies, business groups, lawmakers and many advocates of California’s agriculture industry. The Indian Wells Valley Water District in eastern Kern County has serious concerns about the proposal’s threats to groundwater rights, due process, transparency and scientific accountability. The bill would limit judicial oversight and fundamentally alter the role of groundwater sustainability plans in California, potentially treating them as a legally binding determination of water rights. The Indian Wells water district is undergoing an adjudication process to protect property rights, and officials like me worry that AB 1413 would prohibit courts from reviewing the science behind these plans, as well as potential errors. … ” Continue reading this commentary.
California water management and agriculture: are we biting the hands that feed us?
The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley writes, “Water is life here in California and nowhere is that truer than on the farm. California agriculture feeds the nation and the world, producing more than 400 crops and generating billions of dollars for the economy. But our hardworking farmers are facing enormous challenges and our state’s water laws are being tested like never before. California water management decisions must provide farmers with the tools to meet the requirements of SGMA in order to protect our unmatched agriculture industry. To be frank, it’s a matter of national security. Farmers are no strangers to adapting to the cyclical nature of water availability. If you don’t already know, farmers have been using drip irrigation, soil moisture sensors, and other water-saving tools for roughly three decades. But even the most efficient systems can’t make up for poor water management due to out-of-touch policies. … ” Read more from the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley.
AB 1156 offers hope and a future for the Central Valley — and families like mine
“In the Central Valley, agriculture isn’t just an industry—it’s a way of life. In Fresno County, 20% of jobs are directly or indirectly tied to ag. But today, our future—and the future of farming across the Central Valley—is in question. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), signed into law in 2014, aims to protect California’s most precious resource: water. I understand and support the intent behind SGMA; conserving groundwater is essential to the long-term survival of agriculture in this state. But the reality is stark: as SGMA is implemented, vast swaths of productive farmland—nearly a million acres statewide—are being fallowed, with no clear economic alternative for the land or the people who rely on it. That’s where Assembly Bill 1156 comes in. … ” Read the full commentary at the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
Sending more freshwater through the Delta does not benefit Delta Smelt and is keeping California from meeting the Delta Reform Act’s “co-equal goals”
Dennis Murphy writes, “The federal and state resources agencies operating in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta should be lauded for suspending the so-called Summer-Fall Management Action. The action required a combination of reservoir releases and limits on water exports from the south Delta with the intent of bolstering numbers of the beleaguered delta smelt. From the outset in 2008, implementation of the action was based on an incomplete understanding of the resources necessary to sustain the delta smelt population. Since then, research and observations have demonstrated an absence of benefits to delta smelt from the Summer-Fall Management Action, even as the costs of implementing the action ran into millions of acre-feet of freshwater and billions of dollars. … ” Read more from the Center for California Water Resources Policy & Management.
California water history in a minute – Subsidence
Geoff Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs for the Milk Producers Council, writes, “The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently released a document on subsidence and how to stop it. When groundwater is pumped, particularly from wells deep underground, the ground above can sink, as the clays between the aquifer and the ground surface compress. This phenomenon of the ground surface sinking is called subsidence. Subsidence has been a problem in California ever since we began using large capacity wells to do irrigation. The DWR document describes the history this way: “From 1926 to 1970, an area in the Central Valley southwest of Mendota had documented subsidence of more than 28 feet. Construction of the Central Valley Project began in the late 1930s to address water supply and distribution in California’s Central Valley. The introduction of Central Valley Project surface water imports via the Friant-Kern and Delta-Mendota Canals in the 1950s, and Central Valley Project and State Water Project surface water imports via the California Aqueduct in the 1970s, significantly reduced groundwater reliance, initiated groundwater level recoveries, and slowed—and even reversed—subsidence in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley. … ” Read more from the Milk Producers Council.
As supplies thin, price of recycled water could go up
Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, writes, “As we all manage the implementation of our groundwater management sustainability plans in the next 15 years, there will be some hard choices that communities will need to make. Most of these will include financing various water supply solutions, such as resource projects, land fallowing and repurposing, and even water allocations. Communities that rely exclusively on groundwater will have the hardest decisions to make. With our state’s human right to water, there are more discussions on how our stretched-thin supply can continue to manage a growing state population and continue to produce food to feed our hungry nation. Yes, many are moving out of California due to any number of reasons, including the high cost of living, but there is still incremental population growth in many regions. This brings to light our decades-old water delivery systems to larger municipal areas, which often see demand exceeding capacity. … ” Continue reading this commentary..
Wildfire resilience requires active forest management – not a hands-off approach
Chris Anthony, former Chief Deputy Director of CAL FIRE, writes, “In the summer of 2021, the Caldor Fire roared over the Sierra Nevada crest and into South Lake Tahoe. Thankfully, proactive forest treatments including strategic thinning of dense trees, controlled burns, and defensible space allowed firefighters to slow the flames and save neighborhoods. Local fire officials noted that when the crown fire hit areas where fuels were reduced, the fire intensity greatly diminished, dropping from 100-foot flames in the treetops down to the ground, giving firefighters the room they needed to safely suppress the flames. Far from making fires worse, these science-based forest management actions clearly protected the community. The proposed Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) supports these types of proactive forest management activities. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
In regional water news this week …
Lawsuit could force Humboldt County to regulate groundwater pumping in the Eel River Valley
“In extremely dry years like 2014, when the water level in the Lower Eel River gets so low that in some spots it goes completely underground, does Humboldt County have a responsibility to curtail groundwater pumping in the basin? A lawsuit brought by Friends of the Eel River (FOER) says it absolutely does. Appearing in Humboldt County Superior Court on Friday, the environmental nonprofit’s attorney, Michael Lozeau, argued that the county has failed to adequately consider, much less protect, the public trust resources in the Eel River during the late summer and early fall. In that time of year, farmers irrigate their crops with water pumped out of the alluvial aquifer, further degrading conditions in the nearby Eel, which serves as critical habitat for Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead. “The county’s duties under the public trust [doctrine] don’t take the summer off,” Lozeau said before Judge Kelly Neel. “It applies all year round.” … ” Read more from the Lost Coast Outpost.
Bay Area: Struggling monarchs sure picked some inconvenient habitat
“Scientists are all searching for hope for monarchs these days. The latest California count found 9,119 individuals—a 99 percent decline since the Xerces Society started monitoring in 1997 and found 1,235,490 butterflies. … Of the 62 overwintering sites it identifies across California as “critical habitat,” 16 groves are in Alameda, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Marin counties—including the grove in Bolinas where Fusco has been working. The designation prohibits federal agencies from doing anything that degrades the groves. Each grove is somewhere monarchs have congregated in thousands over the past decades. Every Bay Area grove also includes eucalyptus trees—the non-native species vilified across California for, among other issues, its tendency to catch fire. “It would be way more convenient for all of us if they used native trees,” says Emma Pelton, a conservation biologist at the Xerces Society. … ” Read the full story at Bay Nature.
Joint state effort shields Lake Tahoe from a record amount of polluted runoff
“A bi-state effort to reduce pollution and restore Lake Tahoe’s water clarity prevented a record amount of fine-grained sediment and other pollutants from reaching the lake’s world-famous cobalt waters in 2024, according to an annual performance report released today. By restoring wetlands and streams, limiting dust from roads and construction sites and improving stormwater systems, partners in the Lake Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load Program (TMDL Program) reduced fine sediment loads into the lake by 29%, and nitrogen and phosphorus inputs by 23% and 17%, compared to 2004 baseline levels. These pollutants fuel algae growth and are known to reduce Lake Tahoe’s world-famous clarity and water quality. The report by the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) found that an estimated 727,000 pounds of fine sediment, more than 5,800 pounds of nitrogen and nearly 2,100 pounds of phosphorus were prevented from reaching the lake in 2024, all annual record highs since the program began tracking these statistics in 2016. The mass equivalent of fine sediment reduced would fill approximately 29 dump trucks. … ” Read more from Cal EPA.
The Central Valley tradition of cattle ranching faces an uncertain future
“… Many ranchers are choosing to sell their land to developers and get out of the business. From 1984 to 2018, California lost about 425,000 acres of grazing land, the state Department of Conservation found in a review of the most recent statewide data. Most of the land was converted to “urban and built-up land.” Some Capital Region counties have seen major losses of ranchland. From 1998 to 2020, Sacramento County lost about 29,000 acres of grazing land, a 16 percent loss of all its ranchland, according to the state. In that time, San Joaquin County lost about 32,000 acres, a 20 percent loss overall. San Joaquin and Sacramento counties saw increases in residential housing during that time, driven in part by an influx of coastal residents seeking cheaper housing, a trend that is expected to continue. Ranching supporters worry about the loss of a California tradition. … ” Read more from Comstock’s.
Tulare-Kings County districts in water battle
“In the water battle version of the Hatfields and McCoys neighboring districts continue to have their differences with agencies involved sending letters to each other in the last month.And has been the case before when it comes to trying to meet the requirements of the Sustainability Groundwater Management Act the dispute is over subsidence with two agencies claiming the other isn’t doing enough to deal with the issue. It’s part of the long running battle along the Tulare-Kings Counties line involving the Lower Tule River Irrigation and Pixley Districts and the Angiola Water District. Also involved is the Tri-Counties Water Authority Groundwater Sustainability Agency which covers areas in Tulare, Kings and Kern Counties in both the Tulare Lake and Tule Subbasins. AWD is part of the TCWA and the Tulare Lake Subbasin. LTRID and Pixley are in the Tule Subbasin. Both the Tulare Lake and Tule Subbasins have been placed on probation by the State Water Resources Control Board although the decision to place the Tulare Lake Subbasin on probation has been put on hold pending litigation. … ” Read more from the Porterville Recorder.
‘It needs more water’: Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake by easing L.A.’s water reliance
“The picturesque tufa towers on the shores of Mono Lake, formed over centuries by underwater springs and left high and dry as Los Angeles diverted water from nearby creeks, have long been a symbol of the saline lake. Visitors who stroll beside the lapping water take photos of the craggy calcium carbonate formations as flocks of migratory birds soar overhead. But residents, local officials and environmentalists say the lake’s level should be much higher than it is today, and that the fully exposed tufa spires show L.A. remains far from meeting its obligation to restore the lake’s health. That commitment was made in a landmark 1994 decision, when state water regulators required the L.A. Department of Water and Power to limit water diversions and take steps to raise the lake level 17 feet. Mono Lake is now 8 feet higher than it was then, but is still about 9 feet below the required level set 31 years ago. … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via AOL News.
At Mono Lake, visitors witness the stark toll of L.A.’s water use
“At a trailhead surrounded by sagebrush, a naturalist welcomes a group of visitors to Mono Lake beside a sign that reads “Oasis in the Desert.” Guide Ryan Garrett, his face alight, greets the group of vacationers and entreats them to see the value in the saline lake — it teems with migrating birds, it’s around a million years old, and it’s affected by water use in Southern California more than 300 miles away. In the early 20th century, Los Angeles built a massive aqueduct to take water from the Owens Valley and soon dried up Owens Lake. Reaching for even more water, L.A. leaders pushed farther and began tapping water from the mountain streams that feed Mono Lake. “Are they still taking water?” one woman asks. “Yes, they are still diverting water,” Garrett replies. As they continue, Garrett explains how Mono Lake rapidly declined from the 1940s to the 1980s. They pass interpretive signs showing how much the water level dropped: 7 feet by 1951, 25 feet by 1963. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Ridgecrest warns of significantly higher water rates for residents following court ruling on Indian Wells Valley
“The city of Ridgecrest demanded the Indian Wells Valley Water District to actively oppose the initial court ruling for its groundwater availability, saying Ridgecrest residents will have to pay “significantly higher” water rates otherwise. On Thursday, the city posted about the recent ruling on their Facebook page. According to the post, a preliminary court ruling in Orange County on Tuesday limited the federal reserve right to groundwater in U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake to 2,008 acre-feet per year. The Navy originally said they needed 6,783 in AFY for its future mission, according to city officials.“This ruling threatens the very foundation of water affordability in Ridgecrest and the ability for our community to grow and prosper,” Ridgecrest City Manager Ron Strand said in the post. … ” Read more from Channel 12.
Paso basin property owners won’t pay fees for groundwater after majority protest
“The Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority was forced to abandon water use fees during a tense meeting Friday after a majority of property owners overwhelmingly objected to them. This means that people pumping from the basin still won’t have to pay for their water use. The announcement was met by thunderous applause from about 100 people packed into Paso Robles City Hall, but the celebration was short-lived — as property owners vowed to fight future attempts to tax their water. … ” Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
How ocean creatures tell us the complicated story of LA sewage treatment
“Almost 400 feet beneath San Pedro, Rachel is stuck. Here on the surface at Averill Park, children play on the vibrant green hills. Books are open. Lunches are enjoyed. But Rachel — an 18-foot-diameter tunneling machine — awaits the signal to resume drilling through earth that no human has touched before. The tunnel she’s boring will eventually carry the treated wastewater of 5 million people from a plant in Carson 2 miles offshore from the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean. This tunneling project, delayed by a recent breach, is just one part of the mostly invisible system that takes care of everything we flush or drain down a toilet, sink or shower, hoping to never see again. The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts operate 11 wastewater treatment plants that clean the water so that, when we do see it again, it’s irrigating a green space like Averill Park. Or it’s been a benign addition to the ocean and its inhabitants (more on that later). … ” Read more from the LAist.
Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System as a scalable model for water security
“Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) is a leading example of advanced water reuse in action. This article explores the system’s role within a diversified water strategy and the technical, institutional, and financial factors that have shaped its success. Water reuse has rapidly moved from a niche innovation to a central pillar of sustainable water management. As cities and utilities grapple with the unpredictability of climate change and growing populations, the ability to diversify and secure water sources has never been more critical. Among the various strategies being deployed—network optimisation, demand management, and non-conventional resources—water reuse stands out as one of the most practical, environmentally sound, and socially promising approaches. One of the clearest examples of this is Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS). … ” Read more from Smart Water Magazine.
In an Anaheim Hills neighborhood at risk of landslides, homeowners approve tax to fund groundwater pump system
“A system of pumps that protects an Anaheim Hills neighborhood from landslides should no longer have funding challenges after homeowners on Monday overwhelmingly approved taxing themselves — in some cases by thousands of dollars annually — to keep the pumps running. The 1993 Santiago landslide damaged a dozen homes in this area of Anaheim Hills, forcing many families to evacuate. Following the landslide, dewatering wells were installed that now protect more than 300 homes on the southern end of the hills community. But they cost $340,000 annually to keep running. Funding for the pumps was set to run out early next year — potentially during the rainy season. And homeowners in May had narrowly voted for a third time against continuing to fund the system. But on Monday, enough homeowners in the Santiago Geologic Hazard Abatement District, which manages the pumps, agreed to a permanent property tax assessment to keep the pumps running into the future. … ” Read more from the OC Register.
Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …
