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On the calendar today …
- Sites Reservoir Status Conference beginning at 9am. The State Water Resources Control Board Administrative Hearings Office will conduct a status conference on the pending petition for Assignment of State-filed Application 25517 and accompanying water right Application 25517X01 and the Petitions for Release from priority of State-filed Applications 25513, 25514, 25517 (unassigned portion), 22235, 23780, and 23781 in favor of water right Application 25517X01 of Sites Project Authority. Interested members of the public who would like to watch this status conference without participating may do so through the Administrative Hearings Office YouTube channel at: bit.ly/aho-youtube. Click here for meeting notice.
In California water news today …
Humanity is rapidly depleting water and much of the world is getting drier
“For more than two decades, satellites have tracked the total amounts of water held in glaciers, ice sheets, lakes, rivers, soil and the world’s vast natural reservoirs underground — aquifers. An extensive global analysis of that data now reveals fresh water is rapidly disappearing beneath much of humanity’s feet, and large swaths of the Earth are drying out. Scientists are seeing “mega-drying” regions that are immense and expanding — one stretching from the western United States through Mexico to Central America, and another from Morocco to France, across the entire Middle East to northern China. There are two primary causes of the desiccation: rising temperatures unleashed by using oil and gas, and widespread overpumping of water that took millennia to accumulate underground. “These findings send perhaps the most alarming message yet about the impact of climate change on our water resources,” said Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and professor at Arizona State University who co-authored the study. “The rapid water cycle change that the planet has experienced over the last decade has unleashed a wave of rapid drying.” … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via Yahoo News.
Farmers flip fields to wetland for Central Valley shorebirds
“The binocular sights came up short of the black-and-white markings Drake Stallworth spotted in the distance, somewhere atop the sun-soaked field of water. “I’ll see if I can get the scope on that black-bellied,” he said. … The Nature Conservancy’s two-man field crew took note of the black-bellied plover, one of more than a thousand birds wading and foraging through the inches-deep, 82-acre pool otherwise surrounded by the dry Central Valley. To anyone else driving Highway 45 beside the rural Yolo County property, the distant birds may have looked like dots against the water, akin to the sight of cattle grazing miles into an open pasture. When observed up close — and thought about too deeply — the scene of thousands of birds that hail from the Arctic making habitat of an unnaturally-occurring oasis on a triple-digit August day might strike you as unusual, if not outright bizarre. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
What’s at the bottom of Lake Tahoe?: One team is preparing to show the world
“Chase Petley rummages through the tool laden shelves in his garage and proudly pulls out a cylinder marked by shattered glass. “This is one of my favorite failures,” he says. It’s one of the 15 or so remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) he’s designed in his quest to explore the bottom of Lake Tahoe. “If anyone knew what I knew about the bottom of the lake and [has] seen what I’ve seen,” Petley says, “it would be crazy not to be putting your whole life into building the equipment and grabbing the people, like I’ve done, to go and explore and show people.” It was a curiosity that quickly grew into a decade-plus long project, now slated as a continuing YouTube series, called Mysteries of the Deep: Lake Tahoe with the first episode set to release Friday, September 5. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Feds get 9 months to determine if San Francisco Estuary white sturgeon is threatened
“A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete within nine months a delayed assessment of whether the San Francisco Estuary local population of white sturgeon should be listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros in San Francisco wasn’t persuaded by the agency’s arguments that it would need until 2029 to complete the so-called 12-month finding because of a backlog of pending petitions and staffing shortages from layoffs and a hiring freeze. The judge specifically rejected the agency’s contention that setting an expedited schedule for the white sturgeon assessment would disrupt the Fish and Wildlife Service’s ability to resolve other petitions on schedule. “The court finds that statement less than fully credible,” Cisneros said. “Defendants’ failure to meet statutory deadlines under the ESA appears to have resulted, in part, from adopting procedures that are inconsistent with those deadlines. Accordingly, any inability to meet other deadlines in light of this court’s order is at least in part a problem of defendants’ own making.” … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
Securing statewide water supplies Part 6: Fact over fiction
“Modernizing the infrastructure that delivers clean, affordable water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland across the state is no small feat. The specifics of planning and implementing such a project are complex, dynamic and sometimes contentious. Due to these complexities, foundational elements grounded in fact are often mischaracterized or misrepresented, whether intentionally or not. Funding, permitting and other decisions related to the Delta Conveyance Project should be made based on factual information, supported by science and data, not political and personal agendas. Here are a few foundational facts about the Delta Conveyance Project … ” Continue reading from the Department of Water Resources.
Newsom’s controversial California delta tunnel project endorsed by nation’s largest irrigation system
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial push to fast-track the Delta Conveyance Project received a formal endorsement this week from the largest irrigation district in the nation. The Imperial Irrigation District (IID), which has more than 3,000 miles of canals in Southern California, announced its support Tuesday for the plan, which would reroute water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California through a massive underground tunnel system. The California Department of Water Resources claims the tunnel will provide clean and affordable water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland via an earthquake-resistant system buried 130 feet underground. … ” Read more from CBS News.
SEE ALSO: Colorado River’s largest water user endorses Delta Conveyance Project, from the Desert Review
Tourism, recreation – not shipbuilding – is right future for Collinsville
“Former Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson has a long history of working to protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. That history includes helping to produce the Delta Protection Act in 1992. Now she serves as chairwoman of the Sacramento San Joaquin Rivers Delta National Heritage Area advisory committee, working to implement a Tourism Brand and Marketing Plan. She does not see the Solano Shipyard fitting into those plans. Patterson, in fact, does not think the vision of a shipbuilding operation 3 miles east of Collinsville will ever come to fruition. She does not think it is economically feasible, and is certain it would have a negative impact on the Delta. “The Army Corps of Engineers with over 70 technical studies determined that deepening the Sacramento ship channel likely needed for the Collinsville area proposed shipbuilding would introduce additional salt water into the Delta. Such introduction would compromise water quality for 23 million municipal and agricultural users and water conveyance for the State Water Project,” Patterson stated in an opinion piece submitted to the Daily Republic. … ” Read more from the Daily Republic.
New journal article highlights multibenefit land repurposing as an innovative approach to strengthen rural resilience
“A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete within nine months a delayed assessment of whether the San Francisco Estuary local population of white sturgeon should be listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros in San Francisco wasn’t persuaded by the agency’s arguments that it would need until 2029 to complete the so-called 12-month finding because of a backlog of pending petitions and staffing shortages from layoffs and a hiring freeze. The judge specifically rejected the agency’s contention that setting an expedited schedule for the white sturgeon assessment would disrupt the Fish and Wildlife Service’s ability to resolve other petitions on schedule. “The court finds that statement less than fully credible,” Cisneros said. “Defendants’ failure to meet statutory deadlines under the ESA appears to have resulted, in part, from adopting procedures that are inconsistent with those deadlines. Accordingly, any inability to meet other deadlines in light of this court’s order is at least in part a problem of defendants’ own making.” … ” Read more from the Environmental Defense Fund.
Homes in California use less water than other states, according to a new study of a subset of US cities
“A new study on water usage inside U.S. homes found toilets led the way for the highest water use, followed closely by showers, while dishwashers used the least. The new research also comes with some surprises, including the strong association of humidifiers to high water usage, while other findings may be less surprising, such as that heavily regulated cities in California having the lowest water usage in the study. With data from more than 26,000 single-family homes across 39 cities, the study had a larger data pool than previous research. It is one of the first and largest snapshots of how households in the United States use water inside their home, with previous research not distinguishing between indoor and outdoor water use. This study was published in Earth’s Future, AGU’s journal for interdisciplinary research on the past, present and future of our planet and its inhabitants. Landon Marston, an author on the study, said research into indoor water use was difficult before this study. … ” Read more from AGU.
Unusual California weather could bring wildfire relief — or new dangers
“September in California usually brings dry air, lingering heat and a fresh round of fire weather headlines. But the long-range outlook for the middle of September this year is pointing in a different direction. A series of storm systems are poised to impact the West Coast, which could pull Northern California into a cooler, potentially wetter setup than normal for this time of year. Forecast ensembles from multiple long-range models agree on the broad shape of the atmosphere for the next two weeks of September. A dip in the jet stream will develop across the Western U.S., with a large high-pressure ridge setting up in central Canada and a warm corridor of temperatures running from the Rockies to the Mississippi Valley. For California, that pattern translates into a tilt toward below-normal temperatures for much of the interior parts of the state and a noteworthy uptick in precipitation odds across the northern third of the state. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Water transfer meetings set for Northern California in September
“The Bureau of Reclamation announced plans to prepare an environmental impact statement for proposed “North-to-South Water Transfers” in California. The intent is to evaluate the potential effects of annual water transfers starting as soon as 2028. These transfers would move water from Northern California sellers to buyers in the south and the San Francisco Bay Area. According to Reclamation, the transfers aim to meet existing water demands without creating new ones. … ” Read more from Action News Now.
State seeks feedback on new subsidence guidelines at September workshops
“The public is invited to comment on new state subsidence guidelines at three workshops next week. The Department of Water Resources is holding meetings on Sept. 9 in Clovis, Sept. 10 in Delano and Sept. 11 in Willows. The workshops are focused solely on collecting feedback on a recently released draft document that supports one of the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act — avoiding or minimizing subsidence, land sinking. The document outlines fundamental concepts of subsidence and explains what practices local groundwater agencies should use in their groundwater sustainability plans to halt or minimize subsidence. One overarching theme is the need for GSAs to adopt a regional approach to managing subsidence. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
First in the nation ban on plastic microbeads in personal products headed to Governor Newsom’s desk
“Today, Assembly Bill (AB) 823 by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas) passed the Senate Floor with 39-0 votes. AB 823 would ban the sale of plastic microbeads used as an abrasive in non-rinse-off personal care products and cleaning products by January 1, 2029. This bill would also ban the sale of personal care products containing plastic glitter by January 1, 2030. “Consumers wants safer products, and that call is answered with AB 823. Companies like L’Oreal are already making strides in the industry for clean beauty – naturally. This is where the market is going,” stated Assemblymember Tasha Boerner. “Making our state and country healthy again starts with the products we use every day to clean our homes and our bodies. I look forward to seeing California lead the nation once again when this bill becomes law.” … ” Read more from Assemblymember Tasha Boerner.
Ag community split over AB 1156
“A bill designed to make it easier for farmland to be used for solar projects has divided the agricultural community. State Assembly Bill 1156 essentially allow those in the agricultural industry who lack a water supply to be able to have their land to be used for solar projects without paying the penalty required by the Williamson Act. The California Farm Bureau has come out against the bill, stating it would affect the long-term protection of agricultural land. But there are those in the ag industry who lack water – particularly those who are heavily dependent on groundwater such as in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, who say they need the flexibility to sell their land that AB 1156 provides. … ” Read more from the Porterville Recorder.
Greenwashing in the Evergreen state
“Over the past several decades, a large body of ecological research has confirmed what, to many, would seem common sense: Forests, especially mature forests, are best able to capture carbon dioxide when they are left standing instead of being cut down to make wood products. Trees naturally lock up carbon in their bodies, and even when they eventually topple, they can continue to sequester carbon for centuries as they slowly decay and eventually turn into soil. As a group of more than 100 scientists wrote to members of Congress in the spring of 2020, “The growing consensus of scientific findings is that, to effectively mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, we must not only move beyond fossil fuel consumption but must also substantially increase protection of our native forest in order to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere and store more, not less, carbon in our forests.” … ” Read more from Earth Island Journal.
In commentary today …
Will the Sites Reservoir ever get built?
Edward Ring, Director of Water and Energy Policy at the California Policy Center, writes, “The short answer is no. Never. What is happening with the Sites Reservoir is a case study in why, if the people running California today were in charge in the 1950s and 1960s, the California Water Project would never have been built. This reservoir, approved by voters in 2014, could have been built by now. As it is, the proposal is beset by ongoing and escalating challenges. Between oblivion and realization, the best odds for Sites are probably no better than even. Most prominent recent news about Sites is the latest official cost estimate, which has risen to $6.8 billion. This should come as no surprise, but it changes the cost/benefit equation. While we offered some ROI data on Sites in early July, it’s useful to revisit this not only in light of the new costs, but to explore in further depth the other primary variable affecting ROI, which is how much water will actually end up in the hands of water contractors for agricultural and urban consumption. It’s true of course that a cost increase from the officially recognized estimate of $3.9 billion to $6.8 billion is significant. For any calculation anyone has previously made, bump the numbers by 74 percent. That’s huge. … ” Read more from Edward Ring.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
How the Roadless Rule rollback could affect the national forests of Humboldt County
“Last week the Department of Agriculture advanced plans to rollback the roadless area conservation rule. This rule was established in 2001 and prohibits the construction of roads and logging on approximately 45 million acres of national forests and grasslands. The rule was intended to mitigate negative impacts from road construction and usage on forests and watersheds. Now environmental groups across the nation including here in Humboldt county are rallying to stop the rule from being rescinded. “By not creating more roads and not by prohibiting commercial logging within these roadless areas, it prevents habitat fragmentation for over 2100 threatened and endangered species throughout our country. This is also really important for our drinking water systems. It’s about 354 municipal water districts that get their water from national forest Systems that contain inventory for those areas increase logging within those roadless areas, and new road construction would contribute more sedimentation and decreased water quality within those 354 municipal water districts,” said Josefina Barrantes the 30X30 Coordinator for EPIC. … ” Read more from the Redwood News.
SIERRA NEVADA
Agencies sign 10-year strategy to protect Lake Tahoe communities and forests
“Against the backdrop of the 2025 Tahoe Summit, federal, state, local, and tribal partners commemorated the renewal of the Lake Tahoe Basin Multi-Jurisdictional Fuel Reduction and Wildfire Prevention Strategy, a 10-year plan to protect communities and restore fire-resilient forests within the Lake Tahoe Basin. A multi-agency coordinating group developed the first Multi-Jurisdictional Strategy following the Angora Fire in 2007, which burned 3,100 acres and destroyed more than 248 homes. Since 2007, subsequent strategy updates have guided more than 78,000 acres of forest treatments in and around communities and 85,000 defensible space evaluations to assist homeowners. This work helped protect neighborhoods during recent wildfires, including the 2021 Caldor Fire. … ” Read more from South Tahoe Now.
French Meadows Partnership embarks on seventh season of fire resilience operations
“With California’s fire seasons growing hotter and drier, crews are returning to the high country for the seventh season of work on the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project (Project)—a pioneering public-private effort to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire in the American River watershed, a critical water supply for the region. The groundbreaking Project Partnership (Partnership) rose from the ashes of the devastating 2014 King Fire in Placer and El Dorado counties. A coalition of diverse resource stewards united almost immediately to prevent more such devastation in the Middle Fork American River watershed. The American River Conservancy (ARC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Placer County, Placer County Water Agency (PCWA), Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), and University of California Sierra Nevada Resource Institute (SNRI) joined together with United States Forest Service – Tahoe National Forest (USFS) to reduce severe wildfire risk across 28,000 acres and design a treatment plan to reduce risk to important watershed resources surrounding the public water supply reservoir at French Meadows. … ” Read more from ACWA’s Water News.
Firefighters use sprinklers to save giant sequoias as Garnet Fire advances in the Sierra
“A yellow hose runs past the foot of giant sequoias in the Sierra National Forest, and sprinklers drench the forest floor. Those sprinklers are among the last line of defense installed by firefighters to protect giant sequoias in the McKinley Grove from flames, as thunderstorms continue to drive growth on the 29,718-acre Garnet Fire burning in the Sierra Nevada. “The fire is roughly three miles southeast of the grove’s southern edge,” said Joe Zwierzchowski, the public information officer assigned to the Garnet Fire, in an email to SFGATE on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday night, strong winds from thunderstorms caused the fire to spread and grow 5,000 acres, said Tom Browning, an operations section chief with California Incident Management Team 10, in an operations update posted to Facebook. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Butte County urges annual well inspections on National ‘Protect Your Groundwater Day’
“Wednesday, September 3, is National ‘Protect Your Groundwater Day.’ The Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation reminds well owners to have their wells inspected annually. Inspections encompass an assessment of water quality to ensure its safety for consumption. Additionally, the structural integrity of the well is examined to identify any signs of wear, damage or contamination risks. Private well owners are responsible for maintaining their own well and water supply. … ” Read more from KRCR.
BAY AREA
Marin abandons proposal to expand its second-biggest reservoir
“Marin Municipal Water District officials abandoned a controversial proposal to expand the Nicasio Reservoir, the county’s second-biggest, citing a sharp rise in project costs. For the past year, the water district, which serves over 191,000 residents in central and southern Marin, promoted the expansion as a cost-effective option to boost its water supply. The plan involved installing a 280-foot-long, 4.4-foot-high inflatable gate on Seeger Dam, which would have increased the reservoir’s capacity by 3,700 acre-feet, or about 16.6%. At the district’s Aug. 19 board meeting, staff revealed in an updated analysis that the original project cost estimate of about $15 million had surged to between $37 and $54 million. That was enough for the district board to direct staff to halt the project’s environmental review and withdraw the proposal, though no formal vote was taken. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
CENTRAL COAST
Solutions for Salinas Valley groundwater contamination exist, but adoption is slow
“The Salinas Valley produces more than half of the country’s lettuce. In one of the many fields, Huntington Farms pest control and crop advisor Mark Mason points to a large hose attached to metal cylinders. “We have a filter station set up here where we can track irrigation volume, pressures, flow rate,” he says. Huntington farms covers about 5,000 acres in the Salinas Valley. It’s all conventional rather than organic, meaning they use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Fertilizers add nutrients to the soil that plants need. Nitrogen is one of the most important. “Plants use nitrogen, just like we do, to build proteins,” says University of California Cooperative Extension water advisor Michael Cahn. … ” Read more from KAZU.
Planning Commission approves CAPP project permits despite community concerns
“The Carpinteria Planning Commission on Tuesday night unanimously approved the conditional use and coastal development permits for the Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project (CAPP) in a 4-0 vote. The commission took the neighbors’ concerns about noise into consideration, but ultimately decided the community’s need for a reliable, sustainable long-term source of water outweighs the temporary noise impacts nearby residents can expect from drilling the wells for the project. The project requires the construction of a 12,000 square-foot Advanced Water Purification Facility at the Carpinteria Sanitary District wastewater treatment plant on Sixth Street and the drilling of two injection wells along with clustered monitoring wells to supplement the Carpinteria Valley Groundwater Basin through potable reuse — treating wastewater to be reinjected into the basin to provide meet up to 25% of the city’s water needs. … ” Read more from the Coastal View.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Riverbank begins water system chlorination work
“Recently, the Riverbank City Public Works Department notified residents that it would be adding chlorine to the wells and water tanks around town. This began on Aug. 19. They say it will help them continue providing safe water for the city. The department said it was working in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board. The move is intended to help maintain a bacteriologically safe ground water system. Officials say that adding chlorine to the water is a proven, effective method used by many water systems across the state and country to help protect public health, eliminating potentially harmful microorganisms. … ” Read more from the Riverbank News.
Keyes’ attempt to raise sewer rates mired in confusion
“Henry Castino showed up at the Keyes Community Center on Aug. 26 ready to give a piece of his mind to the Keyes Community Services District board of directors over a proposed fee increase. Castino showed up early, anticipating a large crowd of others to protest the raising of sewer rates from $64.23 to $101.23 per month. After only two women showed up and no board present, he later discovered a small sign taped to the outside of the building saying the meeting was changed to the KCSD office blocks away. Arriving late, Castino heard that the district board had cancelled the advertised Aug. 26 Prop. 218 protest hearing and rescheduled it for 6 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Keyes Elementary School multi-purpose room, 4400 Maud Ave. … ” Read more from the Turlock Journal.
Del Oro residents file another protest
“River Island residents who are living in the Del Oro Water District have filed another protest against the company over a base rate hike it’s proposing. Del Oro is also proposing a significant decrease in the surcharge fee residents have had to pay for a water treatment plant that has been completed. The water treatment plant had been years in the making and became that much more important after the spring flooding in March, 2023. As a result of the flooding Del Oro faced a tremendous challenge when it came to providing its customer with reliable usable water. For the past two years Del Oro’s residents have been in a battle with the company, saying it’s not living up to its responsibility to provide reliable usable water. … ” Read more from the Riverbank News.
State pinning hopes for Kern River rainbow’s survival on hatchery, despite its checkered history
“The state is poised to spend a little more than $7 million to get the fish hatchery near Kernville back up and running in order to protect the endemic Kern River rainbow trout. The plan is to find pure Kern River rainbow DNA to start a broodstock at the hatchery and stock only those fish in the upper reaches of the north fork of the river. Somewhere above Fairview Dam, about 16 miles upriver from Kernville. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which owns the hatchery, has the funding and a construction timetable that anticipates project completion some time in 2027, according to Jennifer Benedet, a department spokesperson. The hatchery has been deemed vital to the maintenance of the species, already listed as “of concern” by CDFW and the U.S. Forest Service. But past, recurring problems with heat and bacteria, intermittent shuttering and concerns about the department’s future stocking plans, have river advocates and anglers feeling cautious, at best. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
New California law could bring more polluting factories to LA’s hardest-hit areas
“When Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 131 into law this summer as part of the California state budget, he made sweeping changes to a five-decade old law that critics say has been a thorn in the side of developing housing in the state. But environmental advocates say the changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) also created dangerous exemptions from the law that could put already vulnerable communities at risk of being exposed to more industrial pollution. They’re now calling on the legislature to address the concerns before the end of the legislative session on September 12. … ” Read more from the LA Public Press.
A fight over dredging on the Long Beach coastline spawns multi-million dollar lawsuit
“The city of Long Beach is suing its tenant at a premier piece of real estate along the downtown shoreline, alleging the company owes at least $3.75 million in past-due fees. The company, TIC Catalina Landing LLC, pays the city $1.3 million annually to manage and rent out four office buildings, a three-level parking structure and a saltwater basin with various docks on Golden Shore Drive. According to the company’s website, renters include the Catalina Island Conservancy, T-Mobile, the law firm Keesal, Young & Logan and Catalina Express, which uses the docks for its ferry service to the island. For years, Long Beach alleges, the company has failed to hand over a portion of its parking revenue, which is supposed to help pay for dredging the nearby channel to a depth of at least 15 feet so vessels can easily pass through. … ” Read more from the Long Beach Post.
San Gorgonio Pass Area dives into historic water alliance
“To secure reliable water supplies for the Pass area, the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency Board of Directors recently approved a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The expansive MOU enables the agency and Metropolitan to share technical expertise, conduct feasibility studies for high-impact projects and programs, model potential infrastructure, implement water exchange programs and pilot projects, and coordinate water management facility development. “This groundbreaking partnership opens the door to powerful storage and exchange projects that will protect our shared water future,” said Mickey Valdivia, the agency’s board president. … ” Read more from the Record Gazette.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
Imperial Irrigation District declares local emergency after devastating monsoon storms
“The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) officially declared a local emergency at its regular meeting on Sept. 2, in response to the catastrophic August 2025 Monsoon Storms that battered its service territory in Imperial and Riverside counties. The IID Board of Directors ratified the emergency proclamation initially issued by Power Manager Matthew Smelser on Aug. 24, acknowledging the extreme peril to public safety and property. Board President Gina Dockstader said the IID had to wait for the county to declare an emergency before the district could. “However, Riverside County did not have as much damage as we did, and they have not declared an emergency yet. IID had extensive damage with power in Riverside, and they are cooperating with us.” … ” Read more from the Desert Review.
SAN DIEGO
What is hydrogen sulfide, gas causing ‘rotten egg’ smell near U.S.-Mexico border?
“The Tijuana River sewage crisis has been happening for decades and has been at the center of ongoing environmental and public health policy discussions between politicians at the city, state, county and federal levels. For several years, residents in South Bay communities have had to live with the stench and other inconveniences stemming from the raw sewage flowing from south of the U.S.-Mexico border and into San Diego County. County officials say the odor is due to an elevated presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which is described as a colorless gas with a “rotten egg” smell. … ” Read more from Fox 5.
Along the Colorado River …
Colorado River deadline approaches, states consider ‘supply-driven’ framework
“Las Vegas has adapted to living with less water — as a 7% cut in Nevada’s Colorado River supply continues into next year — but if water levels continue to drop, more of the West may be forced to follow suit. “I do notice the difference of the water level being down,” said one visitor to Lake Mead during the recent three-day weekend. Locals who go to Boulder Beach are likely used to seeing the white “bathtub ring” around the shoreline, an indicator of years of decline and drought within the Colorado River system. But even more water loss is ahead. Projections from the latest Bureau of Reclamation 24-Month Study show Lake Mead could reach its lowest levels ever within just two years. … ” Read more from Channel 13.
How a Valley wastewater treatment plant cools nuclear power plant, feeds Salt River
“The 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant plays an important role in making sure Valley wastewater doesn’t go to waste. Sewage water is treated at the facility at 91st Avenue and Roeser Road in Tolleson before it can be recycled. Half of the treated water is sent to a nuclear plant for cooling, and the other half goes to a man-made wetlands before it’s discharged back into the environment.As one of the largest facilities of its kind in the Southwest, the 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant receives sewage from 2.6 million people in Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Glendale and Phoenix. The city of Phoenix is the majority owner and operates the plant, which can treat up to 230 million gallons of water a day. … ” Read more from KTAR.
Front Range, Western Slope water heavyweights lay out arguments over Shoshone Power Plant ahead of state hearing
“The points and counterpoints are in: Colorado’s water heavyweights have laid out their arguments about the future of a powerful Colorado River water right ahead of a state hearing in mid-September. A Western Slope coalition led by the Colorado River District and Front Range groups — Aurora Water, Colorado Springs Utilities, Denver Water and Northern Water — are debating a potential change to water rights tied to the Shoshone Power Plant in Glenwood Canyon. The influential water rights, owned by an Xcel Energy subsidiary, impact how water flows across the state. The Western Slope wants to add an environmental use to the water rights, which currently allow Xcel to use the water for hydropower, mining, milling, manufacturing and other purposes. It’s part of the coalition’s broad plan to keep the Colorado River’s “status quo” flows at Shoshone Power Plant long into the future. … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
Small communities left behind as advanced water treatment proves broader benefits
“As the US wrestles with how to deal with widespread PFAS pollution in drinking water supplies, most utilities are lacking advanced filtration systems that could protect public health from not just PFAS but an array of harmful contaminants, according to a new study. Small, rural communities are the least likely to have the advanced systems in place, the study notes. Among the contaminants that the advanced systems can reduce are the water disinfectant byproducts trihalomethanes and haloacetic acid, according to the study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which was published Thursday in the journal ACS ES&T Water. Both byproducts are considered potential carcinogens. “The majority of systems impacted by PFAS contamination lack advanced water treatment,” the authors wrote. “A nationwide installation of treatment for PFAS removal could present an opportunity for overall public water quality improvement.” … ” Read more from The New Lede.
You can be exposed to PFAS through food, water, even swimming in lakes – new maps show how risk from ‘forever chemicals’ varies
“Since the 1940s, companies have been using PFAS – perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – to make products easier to use, from Teflon nonstick pots to waterproof rain gear, stain-resistant carpet and firefighting foam. The chemicals’ resistance to heat, oils, stains, grease and water makes them useful. However, that same chemical stability also makes them linger in the environment – and in the human body. Studies have suggested that some types of PFAS can contribute to health harms, including thyroid disease, liver damage and kidney and testicular cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that there is no safe level of human exposure for two of the most common PFAS compounds: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). It set drinking water standards limiting their acceptable levels in water systems in 2024. However, drinking water isn’t the only way people are exposed to PFAS today. … ” Read more from The Conversation.
Trump appointees “reorganize” the USDA, putting the department’s mission at risk
“In late July, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins released a memo previewing the Trump administration’s plan to “reorganize” the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Though details are sparse, the plan would relocate most USDA staff currently working in Washington, DC, and its suburbs to as-yet undisclosed locations, as well as vacating a major USDA building in DC and a research facility in Maryland, presumably as a prelude to the administration selling them off. These moves would further disrupt services that farmers and consumers rely on while hollowing out the agency’s scientific capacity.Rollins designated her deputy, Stephen Vaden, to fill in the details and implement the plan. Not coincidentally, Vaden presided over a damaging, discriminatory, and likely illegal relocation of USDA research staff in the first Trump administration in 2019, when he was the department’s General Counsel. The USDA cannot afford a repeat of that debacle. … ” Read more from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE: Reclamation announces public scoping meetings for California’s North-to-South Water Transfers
NOTICE: CDFA to host webinar on Regulatory Alignment Study Draft Recommendations
