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In California water news today …
Landfill that closed 47 years ago continues to leak trash into Pacific Ocean
“For more than 20 years, Mussel Rock, a steep stretch of oceanfront land in northern San Mateo County with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and the Farallon Islands, was a garbage dump. Two communities, Pacifica and Daly City, threw away thousands of tons of trash there starting in 1957, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, “I Love Lucy” ruled the airwaves, and environmental laws were few and far between. The landfill closed in 1978. The garbage, 100 feet deep in some places, was covered with dirt roughly 4 feet thick. A barrier of boulders was built along part of the beach to slow erosion. The property became a public park where today people hike and fish. The history is fading. But the garbage remains. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
Fire danger lingering for another day before California cooldown
“After a stretch of heat, storms and fires, Northern California will finally cool down this week. But first, unstable weather will bring one more day of fire danger Tuesday, as leftover monsoonal moisture fuels storms. That lingering monsoonal moisture could spark isolated storms Tuesday afternoon in northern Napa and Sonoma counties, though likely far enough north of the Pickett Fire to avoid worsening conditions. The risk of new wildfires igniting will be focused farther inland, where storms will flare in the Central Valley, Sierra Neada and surrounding foothills, Shasta-Trinity Mountains and northern Sacramento Valley. Should these storms produce any dry lightning or sudden outflow winds, that could spread fires in those areas. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SEE ALSO:
- Flood watch in place for Northern California until Tuesday night caused by prolonged rain, from the Sacramento Bee
- Flood watch issued for Central California until Tuesday night, says the NWS, from the Sacramento Bee
How Karuk ceremonial leader Ron Reed used Western science to take down the Klamath dams
“The Karuk people have lived in the thickly forested mountains along the Klamath River in Northern California for so long that they simply say since time immemorial. Chinook salmon were intrinsic to their way of life. For thousands of years and hundreds of generations, the tribe feasted on the throngs of fish that rushed upstream to lay eggs. Then, about 100 years ago, European settlers built four hydroelectric dams on the upper reaches of the river, blocking access to prime spawning grounds and pushing the river’s once-bountiful salmon runs toward extinction. Karuk ceremonial leader and dipnet fisherman Ron Reed embarked on a quest to help his tribe free the Klamath from the dams nearly 25 years ago. But the divide between his Indigenous knowledge and Western science seemed insurmountable. “I used to speak from the heart—I didn’t have the scientific vocabulary I have now,” says Reed. … ” Continue reading from Robin Meadows at Maven’s Notebook.
Press release: Primo Brands helps launch pioneering water replenishment and habitat restoration project along major California rivers
“As part of its ongoing commitment to responsible water stewardship, Primo Brands Corporation (NYSE: PRMB), a leading branded beverage company in North America with a focus on healthy hydration and owner of the Arrowhead® Mountain Spring Water Brand, is joining forces with River Partners, a California conservation nonprofit driving large-scale river and floodplain restoration, to support an ambitious, multi-site project helping to revitalize key portions of the Sacramento and Feather rivers. The initiative delivers increased water resilience while advancing other beneficial outcomes — including supporting wildlife habitat that seeks to improve biodiversity, climate resilience, flood safety, and renewed access to culturally significant natural resources for Tribal communities. As part of the collaboration, Primo Brands is providing significant financial investment for a nearly 1,000-acre portfolio of multi-benefit floodplain sites River Partners plans to restore over the next three years. … ” Read more from PR Newswire.
Marine protected areas keep California’s kelp resilient against rising water temperatures, scientists find
“UCLA geographers using satellite data have discovered that kelp forests recover better after marine heat waves in marine protected areas than in unprotected areas. The researchers believe that the protection put in place within MPAs may support kelp against multiple environmental stressors. For example, fish species protected by the conservation zones include ones that prey on organisms, like sea urchins, that graze on kelp. These types of fish and invertebrates are less abundant outside of the protected areas where fishing is allowed. By keeping the grazers in check, the fish serve as apex predators, helping reestablish kelp populations that die back when the water gets too warm. This effect, known as a trophic cascade, has been documented in other ecosystems where apex predators are protected. The finding is published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. … ” Read more from UCLA.
Burning urban and wild land alike
“The 2025 Palisades and Eaton Fires torched scrub-lined slopes of the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains, as well as buildings, streets, cars, and infrastructure. Before the flames were even contained, scientists from throughout the Los Angeles (LA) metro area turned to the skies, their labs, and their communities to study the extent of the damage. Their work is informing residents and other researchers about how hazards from the fires have shifted in the weeks and months after containment, and how they could change in the years to come. Scientists are learning how the fires, which burned along the urban-wildland interface, were distinct from strictly urban or rural fires in terms of chemistry, topographic changes, and follow-on hazards. … ” Read more from EOS.
When wildfires compromise drinking water, utilities lean on this professor’s advice
“In 2017, after the Tubbs Fire blazed through parts of California’s wine country, a Santa Rosa resident returned home to one of the few structures left standing in his fire-scarred neighborhood. He turned on the tap and reported that the water smelled like gasoline. Sampling identified the source of the odor as benzene, a compound found in petroleum products. … Typically, state regulators support and guide how public water systems address contamination. But this threat from wildfire was new. No guidance or protocol existed for Santa Rosa’s water system to follow. Staff at Santa Rosa Water started reaching out to experts with experience responding to chemical spills, including a Purdue University engineering professor named Andrew Whelton. Whelton replied with exceptional interest, said Emma Walton, then a deputy director at the utility. Since then, at least 8 wildfires have contaminated public drinking water systems across the United States, and Whelton has become the de facto national authority on response and recovery. … ” Read more from APM Reports.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Bills advancing in Sacramento could spark geothermal boom in Mendocino County
“Headed for the Senate Appropriations Committee this week are two state assembly bills that could spell out a big win for California geothermal energy projects. While the proposed legislation is not without opposition, the passage of assembly bills 527 and 531 could also mean thousands of new jobs in Mendocino County as power companies eye the region for geothermal. Respectively authored by assembly members Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) and Chris Rogers (D-Santa Rosa), AB 527 and 531 would streamline the process to establish projects that would harness renewable energy from heat within the Earth. The Senate Appropriations Committee will decide Aug. 29 whether to advance the bills. … ” Read more from the Mendocino Voice.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
New Melones Lake in the Sierra foothills narrates a winding story about California
“Highway 49 between Calaveras and Tuolumne counties was paved on winding knolls of grass that by early August turn crunchy and amber from torrid temperatures. Its two lanes trace the western Sierra slope past bucolic farmland and through a series of tight corners before approaching the Stevenot Bridge, where the perspective completely changes. That’s when a panoramic view of New Melones Lake takes hold. The glassy lake appears endless, as the shoreline bends behind gulches to disappear into the encircling foothills. Waves bat against the earthly banks, where contour lines expose a past when the reservoir contained more water. If a vast lake seems out of place within the dense oak woodland at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, it’s by design. New Melones is human-made, a reservoir that’s not even 50 years old. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Jean-Michel Cousteau visits Lake Tahoe: Education is key to protecting our waters
“This past Saturday, oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau joined Keep Tahoe Blue for a special event at UNR’s Lake Tahoe campus. It’s part of a new speaker series focused on protecting our waters. KUNR’s Maria Palma spoke with Cousteau and Keep Tahoe Blue’s Jesse Patterson just hours before the event. They talked about Lake Tahoe, the future of our water, and what connects a mountain lake to the world’s oceans. PALMA: Jean-Michel, you’ve explored oceans around the world. When you come to Lake Tahoe, what strikes you most as an oceanographer? COUSTEAU: Lake Tahoe fascinates me. I’ve been all over the ocean, but never here until now and what people need to understand is that Tahoe is part of the ocean. If you protect Lake Tahoe, you protect the ocean. And when you protect the ocean, you protect yourself. … ” Read more from KUNR.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Feather River Fish Monitoring Station provides improved population data on fish species
“Since abundant running water first began flowing through the Sierra Nevada foothills to form the Feather River, fish species like Chinook salmon and steelhead have been migrating up from the Pacific Ocean to spawn. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to population declines stemming from recent drought and reduced ocean food supplies, monitoring efforts are essential to track population trends and guide management and recovery efforts. With the installation of a fish monitoring station in the Feather River near Oroville, DWR can more accurately track the arrival timing, number, species, and origin (natural or hatchery raised) of returning fish. “The fish monitoring station is a valuable reporting tool for counting Chinook salmon and steelhead populations in the Feather River,” said Byron Mache, Environmental Scientist with DWR’s Division of Integrated Science and Engineering. “Accurate estimates allow DWR and its partners, like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service, to track the success of hatchery activities along with environmental and fishing impacts.” … ” Read more from DWR.
SEE ALSO: Feather River Hatchery monitoring station making a splash, from the Chico Enterprise-Record
BAY AREA
Volunteers remove invasive cape ivy to help restore Bolinas Lagoon watershed
“As part of restoring the Bolinas Lagoon watershed, the Watershed Stewards Program, San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Audubon Canyon Ranch partnered for a volunteer event at Volunteer Canyon Creek. With over a dozen volunteers we removed hundreds of pounds of invasive Cape ivy from the banks of the creek, a sensitive tributary of Bolinas Lagoon. Bolinas Lagoon, a Wetland of International Importance, supports large numbers of harbor seals and migratory birds, and has served as the heart of surrounding communities for thousands of years. It also connects the salmon-bearing Pine Gulch Creek with the ocean. In fact, the impetus for restoring a tributary of the Lagoon came from the recently recovering salmon run on Pine Gulch Creek. … ” Read more from the National Park Service.
CENTRAL COAST
Levee eviction & cleanout begins, setting stage for construction, restoration
“On Monday, 27-year-old Brenda Duarte was standing alongside a pile of her belongings in between the train tracks and the Pajaro River Levee, wondering where she was going to sleep that night after a planned levee eviction uprooted her. Surrounding her were scores of recently abandoned campsites that had peppered the levee, including tents, lean-tos, shanties and even a small platform containing a tent perched precariously in the branches of a tree. Most of these had been abandoned in the early-morning hours by people who were evicted—officials at the scene estimate 150 people lived in unsanctioned encampments along the levee—to make room for the upcoming Pajaro River Levee reconstruction project. … ” Read more from the Pajaronian.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
VIDEO: Groups sue to bring water back to dry section of Kern River
“This is the final video in our series exploring how the Kern River is divided up. Several local groups sued the City of Bakersfield demanding it look at its river operations under the Public Trust Doctrine. That doctrine requires water in California to be used for the highest beneficial use, which includes the environment and public access, according to the lawsuit. There’ve been a lot of twists and turns in this lawsuit. Now the trial date has been pushed back to 2027 as the California Supreme Court has agreed to review one portion of the case. Always something new on the Kern River.” Watch video from SJV Water.
SAN DIEGO
Commentary: U.S.-Mexico sewage deal demonstrates shared responsibility
Alicia G. Kerber Palma member of the Mexican Foreign Service and consul general of Mexico in San Diego, writes, “For those who ask if the U.S.-Mexico sewage deal is too good to be true, it is true — and it is more than a to-do list of technical improvements. It is a statement of shared responsibility between two nations that recognizes the urgency of guaranteeing a healthy environment for communities on both sides of the border. The Memorandum of Understanding signed on July 24 by Mexico’s secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is historic — not only because it is the first environmental agreement between the current administrations, but because it reaffirms a mutual commitment to protect ecosystems, public health and quality of life in the Cali-Baja region. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Along the Colorado River …
The government takes a dim view of the Colorado River’s future. Is it too optimistic?
“The words “urgency” and “immediate action” were used by Trump administration officials on Aug. 15 in releasing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 24-month study for the Colorado River Basin. The study sees a high probability of water levels of Lake Powell falling to within 48 feet of the minimum power pool by January. That elevation, 3,490 feet above sea level, is the reservoir’s lowest level at which hydroelectricity can be produced. That has not happened since soon after Powell began filling after completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1966. “This underscores the importance of immediate action to secure the future of the Colorado River,” said David Palumbo, acting commissioner for the agency. Scott Cameron, the acting assistant secretary for water and science in the Department of Interior, had similar words of warning to the seven states that share use of the river. “As the basin prepares for the transition to post-2026 operating guidelines, the urgency for the seven Colorado River Basin states to reach a consensus agreement has never been clearer,” said Cameron. “We cannot afford to delay.” … ” Read more from Colorado Newsline.
Arizona’s aware groundwater is drying up. This ASU study says it’s happening across the globe
“New research finds the planet has experienced an unprecedented loss of freshwater since 2002. And, the study shows more than half of that water loss is coming from groundwater. The data, published in the journal Science Advances, also finds about three-quarters of the global population lives in countries that’ve been losing freshwater over that time. Jay Famiglietti is a hydrologist and a Global Futures professor at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability. He’s also the study’s principal investigator. Famiglietti joined The Show to talk about what they found, and what stands out.” Listen to the show or read transcript at KJZZ.
Desalination plants among proposals to find new water for Arizona
“Three years after an obscure Arizona agency was charged with finding new water supplies for the state it has received six proposals from groups who hope to tap more than $375 million in state money to develop new water sources. The proposals include three to create desalination plants using ocean water — likely from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. But exactly what is being proposed — and how much it will cost — remains confidential as the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority says state law keeps it so until its board members award one or more contracts to move ahead with more detailed plans. … ” Read more from KAWC.
SEE ALSO: Water authority entertains six proposals for new water sources in Arizona, from Arizona Capitol Times
How Tucson’s dry monsoon could affect groundwater recharge
“Tucson is experiencing one of its driest monsoons on record, and the parched summer comes directly on the heels of the city’s driest August to March period since official weather record-keeping began here in 1895. Both the seasonal monsoons and winter storms that have been so sparse this year are critical for groundwater recharge in the Tucson basin, but the winter precipitation contributes most to yearly recharge, says Wally Wilson, water resources manager for Metro Water District. “There is episodic recharge that is measurable along the major rivers when there’s a good (monsoon) storm event, but it dissipates quickly,” Wilson said. Winter rain and snow in the mountains is “much more significant with regard to the water table.” In comparison to winter storms, monsoon events are more sporadic and dispersed, and Wilson said they typically don’t generate the kind of slow, sustained rainfall that a winter storm front brings in. Saturation of rainfall is crucial to water recharge. … ” Read more from the Arizona Daily Star.
Reclamation lowers Lake Mohave water level to aid with annual razorback sucker harvest
“The annual effort to harvest razorback suckers (Xyrauchen texanus) from lakeside rearing ponds will coincide with the planned lowering of water levels in Lake Mohave. The Bureau of Reclamation lowers water levels each year at this time to prepare for the potential inflow from winter storms below Hoover Dam. Lake Mohave will steadily lower from its current elevation of 642.50 feet above mean sea level to an elevation of about 637 feet msl by October 5, where it will remain for one week. The lake level will begin to rise after October 12 and is projected to reach an elevation of about 638 feet msl by the end of October. Razorback suckers are an endangered species native to the Colorado River, and the drawdown makes it easier for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program to gather tens of thousands of newly hatched razorback sucker larvae from the lake. … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Utah agrees on cuts from the Colorado River, the only Upper Basin state willing to budge
“The seven states that depend on the Colorado River are racing against the clock to meet the 2026 deadline to determine how they will divvy up the dwindling water supply, with one caveat — they need to submit their proposals by Nov. 11 of this year. The current operating guidelines for the Colorado River are set to expire next year after a century, but negotiations between the Upper Basin states — Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico — and the Lower Basin states — Nevada, Arizona and California — have been at a standstill.However, according to Elizabeth Koebele, a University of Nevada, Reno professor who studies the Colorado River, progress was made during closed-door meetings this month, with Utah finally agreeing to cut back on its water supply. … ” Read more from the Times Independent.
‘We’re transforming our reputation’: Washington County outpaces Las Vegas in lawn replacement
“In the drought-stricken Southwest, where water is the lifeblood of the community, Washington County is setting an example for conservation. Known more for its rapid growth and outdoor recreation, the county is now outpacing Southern Nevada in turf removal on a per capita basis — a surprising reversal given Las Vegas has long been seen as a gold standard in lawn conversion and water conservation. That contrasts with St. George being seen as one of the West’s biggest water wasters as recently as last year. Since the launch of the Washington County Water Conservancy District’s Water Efficient Landscape Program in December 2023, nearly 2.9 million square feet of grass have been removed across the region. Property owners have received more than $5.8 million in rebates for replacing turf with water-wise landscaping, with participation rising each year. … ” Read more from St. George News.
