A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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Bay Delta Plan update/Healthy Rivers and Landscapes/Voluntary Agreements …
Bay-Delta water plan divides tribes, farmers and regulators
“California is weighing its first major rewrite of Bay-Delta water rules in decades, considering changes to how much water must remain in rivers and giving regional water agencies a more flexible way to comply with those limits. On the second day of a three-day State Water Resources Control Board hearing on Thursday, stakeholders fell into three broad camps as they continued to debate how California should manage the Bay-Delta in the years ahead. They included state officials backing adoption of the plan, environmental and tribal groups seeking stronger protections, and water agencies that welcomed added flexibility but pushed for major changes to the staff proposal. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Water managers highlight early successes of Healthy Rivers and Landscapes projects at State Water Board hearings
Press release from the Northern California Water Association and the State Water Contractors: “During three days of hearings this week, January 28–30, the California State Water Resources Control Board heard testimony from state, regional and local water managers, local elected officials, state natural resource agency leaders, scientists, and community members from across the state expressing support for the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) Program as a balanced and science-based path forward in the update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. The Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program is designed to balance protection of all beneficial uses of water in the Bay-Delta watershed while making measurable progress toward the recovery of Chinook salmon and other native species. This statewide collaborative effort pairs strategically timed river flows with habitat restoration, supported by ongoing monitoring and science-based adaptive management. Together, these actions are advancing solutions that benefit ecosystems, local economies, and California’s long-term water security. … ” Continue reading this press release.
California Tribes and Fishermen Speak Out Against California Voluntary Water Agreements
Press release from Save Our Salmon: Today, Tribal members, fishing families, youth, and community allies are hosting a rally and public comment in opposition to the Bay-Delta Plan and proposed Voluntary Water Agreements (VAs) at the California State Water Board in Sacramento. The action takes place during the final day of State Water Board hearings, marking the last opportunity for public input on a plan that would impact rivers, salmon, and drinking water across California. It comes after two days of strong comments and panels opposing the plan by Tribes, Bay-Delta residents, environmental groups, and fishermen. Opposition to the Voluntary Agreements has grown as new federal actions threaten additional water exports from the Delta. Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, warned, “The clueless SWRCB continues to advocate for an 8-year experiment that fails to meet water, environmental, and aquatic species needs on so many levels as the VAs currently stand.” … ” Continue reading this press release.
A long-awaited California water policy promises balance. Opponents call it an ‘extinction plan’
“California is on the cusp of adopting a sweeping plan to manage the ecologically stressed Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a move that Gov. Gavin Newsom deems “critical” to protecting state water supplies but critics are calling a major environmental setback. The state’s Bay Delta Plan, years in the making, aims to moderate the amount of water that cities and farms take out of rivers and creeks, from Fresno to the Oregon border, to ensure enough is left to flow downstream to the delta. As it stands, some upstream rivers at certain times of the year see as much as 90% of their water diverted. Last week, at three days of public hearings in Sacramento, scores of conservationists, fishermen, delta residents and Native Americans blasted the plan as doing too little to rein in water users, saying struggling fish, wildlife and water quality would not see the improvements they need. It was a last-ditch bid to derail the policy, which state water regulators appear likely to sign off on later this year. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
How to best protect the Delta? California water agencies advocate for flexibility
“Regional water agencies on Monday urged the State Water Resources Control Board to advance a voluntary agreement option in the updated Bay-Delta plan that would give agencies more flexibility in how they meet state water rules. Under Healthy Rivers and Landscapes, the regional agencies would not be mandated to strict river flow targets. In a letter reviewed by The Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento Regional Water Authority wrote to state water regulators on behalf of anticipated American River Healthy Rivers and Landscapes participants, asserting that relying only on the regulatory pathway would create severe “trade-offs” for regional water supplies and river ecosystems. The regulatory pathway, meanwhile, is the board’s framework that would impose an “unimpaired-flow requirement,” which would require about half of river flows to keep moving downstrean instead of being stored in winter and spring. The flow rules would apply to water users outside the voluntary program, which local water agencies say could undermine the state’s water supply stability and the Delta ecosystem. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Tribes, fishermen and enviros slam California’s big ag-backed voluntary water agreements
“As fish populations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta continue to crash, a broad coalition of Californians said a resounding “No!” last week to a Newsom administration water plan they said would further exacerbate the ecological decline of the estuary. On Friday, Tribal members, fishing families, youth, and community allies hosted a rally and public comment opposing the Bay-Delta Plan and proposed Voluntary Water Agreements (VAs) at the California State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento. Participants held colorful signs proclaiming “Save Our Salmon,” “Respect Our Rivers,” “Protect Our Rivers,” “Fish Need Cold Water,” and “55 to 65% Flows = Living Rivers.” … ” Read more from Dan Bacher at the Daily Kos.
Delta advocates speak out against Bay Delta Plan update and the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program
Last week, the State Water Resources Control Board held a public hearing on the latest documents released for the update to the Bay Delta Plan and the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program. Here’s what Restore the Delta and the Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition, Save California Salmon, and C-WIN had to say. Read the statements.
Environmental, tribal groups slam Bay-Delta deal over weak flow rules
“Environmental groups and tribal communities submitted written comments to state water regulators this week reiterating that the proposed Bay-Delta water management plan weakens water protections and could open the door to ecosystem disaster. During a three-day hearing last week, the tribal members warned that the plan would result in “privatizing water, prioritizing corporate profit over people.” In a news release on Tuesday, Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu called the California State Water Board “clueless,” and Regina Chichizola, executive director of Save California Salmon, blasted state officials’ move to “advocate for an eight-year experiment that fails to meet water, environmental and aquatic species needs on so many levels as the VAs currently stand.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Colorado River negotiations …
Colorado River negotiators are nearly out of time and snowpack
“Time and water are running low on the Colorado River. Amid one of the driest winters on record, representatives from seven Western states have less than two weeks to meet an already-delayed federal deadline to find a new way to share the dwindling Colorado River—one that recognizes the megadrought and overconsumption plaguing the basin. The current guidelines for implementing drought contingencies expire later this year, but as the Feb. 14 deadline looms, basin states, particularly Arizona and Colorado, have begun discussing the prospect of settling their disputes in court, suggesting that a deal is far from guaranteed. And while a meeting last week in Washington, D.C. between the Interior Department and all seven basin states brought some hope, state negotiators have again dug in their heels. “I’ll certainly own whatever failure attaches [to me for] not having a seven-state agreement,” said Tom Buschatzke, the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the state’s lead negotiator, in a meeting among the state’s stakeholders on Monday. “The only real failure for me, when I look in that mirror, is if I give away the state of Arizona’s water supply for the next several generations. That ain’t gonna happen, and I won’t see that as failure if we can’t come to a collaborative outcome. To me, that’s successfully protecting the state of Arizona.” … ” Read more from Inside Climate News.
How failing negotiations could spiral into a bitter fight over the Colorado River
“With the leaders of seven states deadlocked over the Colorado River’s deepening crisis, negotiations increasingly seem likely to fail — which could lead the federal government to impose unilateral cuts and spark lawsuits that would bring a complex court battle. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has urged negotiators for the states to reach a deal by Feb. 14, but substantial disagreements remain. “All seven states know that if we’re unable to achieve an agreement, it would likely fall to the courts, and that would be a lengthy and uncertain process,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in an interview. … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via Yahoo News.
Arizona faces outsized burden if Colorado River states miss February deadline
“Not everyone with a stake in the future of Arizona’s access to Colorado River water feels as “cautiously optimistic” about water usage negotiations among the seven Colorado River Basin states. The governors of six of the seven states, including Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, said they were cautiously optimistic that the states would reach a deal after they met in Washington D.C. last week to hash things out, in a meeting called by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Reaching a water usage agreement is vital to the basin states as the Colorado River’s water supply continues to decline, as it has done for the past 25 years due to a persistent drought spurred on by climate change. Burgum called the meeting at Hobbs’ request after the states missed a Nov. 11 deadline to reach an agreement and with a new Feb. 14 deadline rapidly approaching. Prior to the meeting, the two basins were at an impasse, and it’s still unclear if the meeting changed that. … ” Continue reading from the Arizona Mirror.
As clock ticks on Colorado River talks, Arizona wants to steer away from the courtroom
“Gov. Katie Hobbs said Monday that unless Upper Basin states actually offer up some firm commitments to conserve water she won’t agree to any deal for Arizona to cut its own withdrawals from the Colorado River. And that would lead to either Interior Secretary Doug Burgum imposing his own solution on the seven states that draw water from the river — or the situation having to be hashed out in court. Only thing is, Burgum has so far refused to do more than bring the governors of the affect states together, as he did on Friday. And Terry Goddard, president of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, which oversees the state’s Colorado River supply, said the options put forward by the Interior Department “are not palatable to Arizona or California,” one of the two other Lower Basin states. “All Burgum’s done is set us up for litigation,” he told Capitol Media Services. “And I think that’s sad.” … ” Read more from KJZZ.
In other California water news this week …
California, West to see ‘major pattern change’ as rain, snow enter forecast
“The ridge of high pressure that has dominated California’s weather since early January is finally showing signs of weakening. On the heels of a record warm December, January ended up near record warm as well, with a clear national dipole between the warm West and cooler East. What the National Weather Service describes as a “major pattern change” is on the horizon. Forecast models anticipate an end to the 60- and 70-degree temperatures, with rain and snow returning to parts of California as early as Sunday, and a more significant precipitation window opening next week. But the nature of the incoming storms raises a critical question: Will the precipitation fall where, and how, the state needs it most? … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
DWR: Dry January cuts into early-season snowpack gains: Statewide, the snowpack is 59%
Andrew Nixon / DWR
“The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the second snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 23 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 8 inches, which is 46 percent of average for this location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. Statewide, the snowpack is 59 percent of average for this date. Three weeks ago, the snowpack was 89 percent of average after a series of atmospheric rivers provided relief from a slow start to the snowpack. A dry January, which is historically the wettest month of the year in California, has now eroded the gains made at the start of the year and forecasts currently show no major precipitation in the next two weeks. … ” Read more from DWR.
Western U.S. snowpack is worth trillions of dollars
“The American West’s snowpack is valuable for many reasons. Snowmelt supplies much of the water flowing through the region’s streams, rivers, irrigation canals and household faucets—a vital role that has taken on new urgency this winter as much of the West struggles with scant snow cover. Snowfall supports countless species, maintains forest health and helps keep a lid on wildfires. It even cools the planet by reflecting sunlight. Snowflakes also underlie the region’s multi-billion-dollar winter sports industry, fueling local economies and drawing millions of participants. In warmer months, boating and fishing depend on water that was once frozen. Snow performs all these functions, but can its worth be calculated in dollars and cents? And how is climate change affecting that value? … ” Read more from the Water Desk.
Trump’s water ambitions have a staffing problem
“Federal water managers and the local agencies they serve usually gather every January in Reno, Nevada, to swap wish lists, from higher dams to new reservoirs to changes to endangered species rules. This year, at the Mid-Pacific Water Users Conference, the focus was more basic: whether the federal water system has enough people left to keep it running. “We’re left with so many holes, there’s no way we can do business the way we used to,” Adam Nickels, acting regional director for the Bureau of Reclamation’s California region, told the gathering last week. The shift was striking given the politics. President Donald Trump has made Western water a priority, maintaining close ties with farm districts that receive federal deliveries — including Westlands Water District — and ordering agencies like Reclamation to move more water, faster. … ” Read more from Politico.
Building California’s water future: DWR’s framework for the 2028 Water Plan and SB 72 implementation
“At the January meeting of the California Water Commission, Joel Metzger, Deputy Director of Statewide Water Resources Planning at the Department of Water Resources (DWR), presented an overview of the proposed framework for organizing the 2028 California Water Plan, the rollout of Senate Bill 72, and coordination and consultation with the Commission. The passage of Senate Bill 72 authorizes DWR to develop a data-driven playbook to guide and secure California’s water future. The legislation establishes a target to identify 9 million acre-feet of additional water supply by 2040 to address anticipated losses from rising temperatures. Mr. Metzger shared early conceptual ideas for the 2028 Water Plan update and Senate Bill 72 implementation, emphasizing that these are preliminary concepts and that many decisions remain pending. Final decisions will need to be made quickly to initiate the process, as the legislation was only signed on October 1, and the water plan is due in a few years. With only about a year available for technical work, the process must begin immediately, with a statewide launch anticipated as early as mid-February. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
U.S. Army Corps begins public review for Oroville, New Bullards Bar dams
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, has initiated a public review process for proposed updates to the operation of Oroville Dam and New Bullards Bar Dam. A public scoping meeting took place on Feb. 4, in Marysville, marking the start of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping process for updates to the reservoirs’ Water Control Manuals. Each federally operated reservoir with a flood control mission has a water control manual, which outlines when and how water is stored or released to reduce flood risk while supporting other authorized purposes. … ” Read more from KRCR.
Challenging California’s water ‘scarcity’ narrative
“California doesn’t have a water scarcity problem. It has a distribution problem, according to Nícola Ulibarrí, whose new research is reshaping how policymakers think about one of the state’s most pressing challenges. In a report commissioned by UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab, Ulibarrí argues that California’s existing water infrastructure already collects enough water to sustain all state residents. The real crisis, says the UC Irvine associate professor of urban planning and public policy, is that thousands of Californians remain disconnected from that abundant supply. “Water is already abundant for most California residents,” says Ulibarrí, whose work focuses on water policy and environmental governance. “The question isn’t how to create more water. It’s how to ensure everyone can access what we already have.” … ” Read more from UC Irvine.
How to entice water guzzlers to conserve
“When Kristina Brecko arrived at Stanford University in the fall of 2012 to start her PhD, she was already scanning the weather forecast—not for rainfall, but for snow. An avid snowboarder, she and her graduate study advisor, Wesley Hartmann, a skier, were eager to get into the mountains. There would be no great skiing that winter. California was entering what would become one of the most severe droughts in its history. “I liked to snowboard,” Brecko says. “And so it was very salient that there really wasn’t any good snow that year.” The drought, which stretched from 2012 to 2017, transformed daily life across the state. Cities pleaded with residents to conserve water and let lawns go brown, rip out grass, stop watering altogether. Billboards and public campaigns urged restraint. Many complied. But some of the state’s heaviest water users, often homeowners with sprawling green lawns, did not. For Brecko, now an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School, the disconnect raised a question that would shape years of research. California was awash in public opinion messaging. Was any of it effective? … ” Read more from the University of Rochester.
Western U.S. cities open wallets in quest for water
“Little more than two months ago, on an unusually rainy November evening, the Queen Creek Town Council staked claim to the city’s future. Queen Creek, located in central Arizona southeast of Phoenix, was founded in 1989 but is already home to some 88,000 people. In a unanimous vote, the council approved a $244 million deal to acquire 12,000 acre-feet of water annually for the next century from the Harquahala groundwater basin, some 90 miles away. (An acre-foot is enough water for about three households per year.) The purchase, which does not include interest payments or the cost of the infrastructure to pump and move the water, represents 100 years of the young city’s current water demand and gives the fast-growing area access to a water source that will not be subject to Colorado River restrictions, a valuable asset in a state where many cities rely on the beleaguered and shrinking river for a portion of their water. … The water-supply discussions in the Phoenix suburbs are echoed in council chambers across the American West. In a drying climate with growing populations and thirsty economies, a secure water supply is an urgent matter. Conservation is often the cheapest option. But cities, like financial planners, also want to diversify their water portfolios. … ” Read the full article from the Circle of Blue.
Boosting climate resilience in the Delta’s mountain headwaters
“Many of the great rivers that meet in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta begin high in the Sierra Nevada, where summer snowmelt feeds streams that start as trickles and then gush downslope toward the sea. “These tiny, little streams add up to the Delta, “says Jeffrey Lauder, a forest ecologist and Executive Director of the Sierra Streams Institute, a Nevada City-based nonprofit that focuses on watersheds in the Northern Sierra Nevada. But, despite their vital role in the Delta’s water supply, the future of mountain streams under climate change is little known. A new project, led by the Sierra Streams Institute and funded by the Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program, will gauge likely changes in mountain headwaters to the Delta as the world warms. In keeping with the Delta Science Program’s emphasis on co-producing knowledge with tribes, this project will also integrate Western science with Indigenous knowledge. … ” Read more from Robin Meadows at Maven’s Notebook.
Inside the polarizing plan to stash carbon in a California wetland
California Department of Water Resources
“The Montezuma Wetlands drape across 1,800 acres of Solano County, California, where the Sacramento River empties into San Francisco Bay. Once drained and diked for farming and grazing, the marsh has been rehabilitated over the past two decades, and in 2020, tidal waters returned for the first time in a century. Today, the land teems with shorebirds, waterfowl, and other wildlife in a rare example of large-scale habitat restoration. But just as the ecosystem is on the mend, another makeover may be coming. A company called Montezuma Carbon wants to send millions of tons of carbon dioxide from Bay Area polluters through a 40-mile pipeline and store it in saline aquifers 2 miles beneath the wetland. Approval could come in as little as 12 to 18 months once the county approves a test well, with what its backers call “limited disposal” coming one year after that. If the project proceeds, it could be the Golden State’s first large-scale, climate-driven carbon capture and storage site. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency approved Carbon TerraVault, a smaller project in Kern County, California, that would store carbon dioxide in depleted oil wells. … ” Read more from Grist.
Mussel mania: San Joaquin Valley water agencies gear up to fight invasive mollusk
“Water agencies of all sizes are crafting plans and forming task forces across local, state and federal entities to protect infrastructure from the spread of golden mussels, a tiny, invasive species that has already spread the length of the state’s network of waterways. In the San Joaquin Valley, Friant Water Authority is in the midst of another round of environmental DNA testing, this time on the entire length of the 152-mile canal, after golden mussel eDNA was detected near the White River intake in Tulare County. Initially, the authority hoped the mussel was contained to the southern reaches of its canal, in the Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, where State Water Project supplies enter the Friant system via the Cross Valley Canal. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Round Valley Indian Tribes respond to Trump administration’s attempt to thwart Eel River dam removal
“James Russ and Joseph Parker, the former and current presidents of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, are seeking to make their reservation healthy again. That means helping their people, they say, and specifically tackling high rates of diabetes and obesity that affect their tribal nation and many other Indigenous communities. It also means restoring their land and the river that has been intrinsically linked with their people for millennia. “We are Native people tied to the resources and rhythms of the Eel River,” Parker said. “Our health is connected to the river.” … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Chinook salmon sightings at Cape Horn Dam reach highest numbers since 2013
“A new record has been set for the number of Chinook salmon sighted at Cape Horn Dam, with 1,324 fish reported by the Friends of the Eel River. This marks the highest number of Chinook salmon seen in this part of the watershed since 2013. Although the numbers are still far from historic levels, the increase is seen as a positive sign for the species in the Eel River. Cape Horn Dam, along with Scott Dam, forms the Van Arsdale Reservoir as part of the Potter Valley Project, which is scheduled for removal. … ” Read more from KRCR.
SEE ALSO: Eel River Dam Sees Highest Chinook Salmon Count in 13 Years, from Active NorCal
Is tyre pollution causing mass deaths in vulnerable salmon populations?
“Last week, a district judge in San Francisco, California, presided over a three-day trial brought by west coast fishers and conservationists against US tyre companies. The fishers allege that a chemical additive used in tyres is polluting rivers and waterways, killing coho salmon and other fish. If successful, the case could have implications far beyond the United States. The case was initiated after the apparent solving of a decades-old mystery: what was causing mass deaths of endangered coho salmon in the Pacific north-west as they returned to streams to spawn. The deaths happened after heavy rain. Before dying, the fish would exhibit unusual behaviour, swimming in circles, their mouths gaping, as if gasping for air. Scientists, suspecting storm runoff, described the phenomenon as “urban runoff mortality syndrome”. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
A mysterious salmon-killing affliction is a mystery no more
“Scientists have conclusively identified the cause of a lethal vitamin deficiency that is driving the demise of one of California’s unique salmon populations. In a recent paper, a team of 37 biologists, physiologists, and fisheries experts show that a severe, widespread vitamin B1 deficiency plaguing the winter run of Sacramento River chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is linked to an extreme dietary imbalance caused by the spread of northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) up the coast. Historically, some 200,000 winter-run chinook returned each year to spawn in the Sacramento River. Already stressed by rising temperatures in a river divided by dams and overdrawn by farmers, this federally-endangered salmon population has been listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1994, and is bolstered by hatchery-raised fish. In early 2020, as the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life on land, managers in salmon hatcheries across California’s Central Valley were faced with the arrival of a different affliction. Hatchery workers were reporting juvenile fish, or fry, swimming in erratic, corkscrew patterns—a characteristic reaction of fish to a vitamin B1 deficiency. They were also suffering a soaring death rate. … ” Read more from Biographic.
Tell me something good … about salmon
“Almost exactly 15 years ago, researchers at UC Davis, California Trout and other partners started testing a wacky idea: Let’s plant salmon in rice fields to see how they grow. Could these winter-flooded fields serve as “nurseries” for struggling Central Valley salmon populations, allowing them a place to rest and feast on bugs before making their way to the ocean? It was called the Nigiri Project, a refreshing blend of rice and fish. Not only did it work, but salmon raised in rice fields grew two- to five times bigger than those raised in rivers, earning them the nickname “floodplain fatties.” The experimental pilot projects, conducted at Knaggs Ranch, showed that flooded rice fields could act as healthy fish habitats. It was the proof of concept needed for a much bigger project – the Department of Water Resources’ Big Notch Project — that launched last fall in Yolo County. That project cut a “notch” in Fremont Weir, installed new gates and carved new channels for salmon to improve flood control and fish passage. … ” Read more from UC Davis.
California leads nation with no reported lead service lines in drinking water systems
“The State Water Resources Control Board today announced the launch of an interactive, publicly searchable map allowing Californians to check whether their drinking water service line contains lead. The new tool underscores California’s strong standing in lead service line remediation and transparency, with the latest statewide inventory showing no lead reported in nearly 10 million service connections. “Today we are proud to provide Californians with the means of checking their drinking water infrastructure for reports of lead,” said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the State Water Board’s Division of Drinking Water. “With no confirmed lead service lines out of the millions reported so far, California leads the nation. The new map empowers consumers, builds trust, and marks another step in our commitment to safe, lead-free drinking water.” … ” Continue reading from the State Water Board.
Central Valley ag confronts the weight of water policies
“The water policies influencing productive farmland in the Central Valley have been years in the making. Among the most frequently cited markers of what lies ahead is the Public Policy Institute of California’s projection that implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could lead to the fallowing, retirement, or repurposing of between 500,000-acres and 1 million-acres of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley by 2040. Once a distant forecast, those numbers are now moving closer to reality as groundwater sustainability plans shift from planning to enforcement. According to Aaron Fukuda, chief executive officer of the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency and the Tulare Irrigation District, farming under SGMA has already become the “new norm” for many growers, with implementation in the Kaweah Subbasin beginning in 2022. … ” Read more from the Valley Ag Voice.
New water legislation seeks to boost recycling, aid farms and ecosystems
“U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla rolled out two new water bills aimed at easing the state’s growing climate-driven water shortages and making water supplies more dependable across the state. The Making Our Communities Resilient through Enhancing Water for Agriculture, Technology, the Environment, and Residences Act — the MORE WATER Act — and the Growing Resilient Operations from Water Savings and Municipal-Agricultural Reciprocally-beneficial Transactions, — the GROW SMART Act — have drawn strong backing from regional water agencies, which praised the measures as important steps toward improving water reliability and affordability throughout the Golden State. “After years of severe drought and mounting climate impacts, California needs bold solutions and sustained federal investment to confront water scarcity challenges in both cities and agricultural communities across the state,” Padilla, a Democrat, said in a news release Wednesday. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
In commentary this week …
California’s drought is over, but we still must invest in water supply projects
Edward Ring writes, “For the last 25 years, the US Drought Monitor (USDM), a collaborative effort by the University of Nebraska, NOAA, the USDA, and other experts throughout the country, has released a weekly map that shows the location and intensity of drought across the United States. On January 8, for the first time ever, USDM’s weekly map showed the entire State of California to be drought free. The timing of USDM’s finding coincides with the release this week of a California Policy Center study, Statistical Review of United States Drought Monitor, that calls into question the objectivity of USDM’s reports. The USDM’s baseline assessment for the 20th century had California in a state of drought about 30 percent of the time, whereas their assessments for the first 25 years of the 21st century had the state experiencing drought more than 60 percent of the time. But our own analysis showed almost no change in drought frequency between this century and the last. … ” Read more from Edward Ring.
Drought is over, but state sets Sites on storage
The Southern California News Group editorial board writes, “It’s been a rough winter in the Midwest, South and East, but in California we’ve been the beneficiaries of something the state has long needed: extended, steady rain to fill our reservoirs and create a deep snowpack in the Sierras. The U.S. Drought Monitor showed California with no abnormally dry areas anywhere within its boundaries, which is the first time we’ve seen such good news in 25 years. Most reservoirs are above 75% capacity. “We’re not just managing for today’s conditions — we’re building a system that can handle whatever our changing climate throws at us,” saidGov. Gavin Newsom. “That means capturing rainwater when storms hit, storing it for dry seasons.” We’re of mixed minds with that statement. Yes, the governor detailed a solid water policy — capturing more water in wet years so we have it in dry ones. We liked his phrasing about building a system that is resilient in the face of climate change. But we’ve generally been disappointed in the administration’s reluctance to prioritize traditional water infrastructure. … ” Continue reading at the OC Register.
State tries to sideline Sacramento & Stockton’s lawyers — court hears stay request
Deirdre Des Jardins writes, “On January 23, 2026, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed a motion in Sacramento County Superior Court seeking to disqualify the law firm of Somach Simmons & Dunn, longtime counsel for the County of Sacramento, the City of Stockton, in three of the ten consolidated cases challenging DWR’s approvals of the Delta Conveyance Project. Somach has represented these local governments on Delta matters since 2007. On February 6, 2026, the court will hear Somach’s motion to stay all Delta Conveyance proceedings while it resolves DWR’s sweeping conflict-of-interest claims. Though the legal issues are technical, they present a fundamental question of fairness: Can the State destabilize the legal representation of directly affected local governments in the middle of ongoing, multi-front litigation? … ” Continue reading from California Water Research.
Stop the Voluntary Agreements: A thin layer of frosting on the rotting cake of business as usual
Chris Shutes writes, “The updated Bay-Delta Plan will set flows into San Francisco Bay, through the Delta estuary upstream, and in the Sacramento Valley rivers that flow into the Delta. On December 12, 2025, the State Water Resources Control Board (the Board) issued two major documents that describe its latest proposal for an update. These are the Revised Draft Plan and a partially Recirculated Substitute Environmental Document (SED). The latter analyzes the Revised Draft Plan. In the two documents, the Board solidifies a decision to adopt voluntary agreements proposed by the state’s major water users. Over January 2026, CSPA worked overtime to turn the direction of the Board in favor of an updated Bay-Delta Plan that would restore the Bay-Delta estuary. … ” Read more from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
One year after the LA fires, we know what must change
Eric Horne, California Director for Megafire Action, writes, “Just a year ago, Los Angeles watched neighborhoods burn, skies fill with smoke, and families flee with minutes to spare, including members of my own family. As we commemorate the anniversary of this tragic event, many communities are still recovering, landscapes remain visibly scarred, and too many families are still living with the long tail of destruction—financial, emotional, and physical. Yet the most unsettling truth is that, despite the passage of time, the threat of megafires like those we witnessed in Altadena and the Palisades has only intensified. The past year has made one thing painfully clear: we know what must change to prevent future megafires, and the time to act is now. … ” Continue reading at Capitol Weekly.
In regional water news this week …
Clearlake expands sewage spill impact area, leaving more residents without water
“Three weeks after 2.9 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into a Clearlake neighborhood, more residents have been told to not use their water after city and county officials expanded the original impact area, saying contaminated groundwater may have traveled farther than first believed. On Friday, Jan. 30, officials said that contaminated groundwater may have traveled more than anticipated when the spill occurred and that residents who rely on private wells drawing from a shallow aquifer could be affected. The spill is now affecting 164 homes across 549 acres. The expansion is intended to ensure that all areas that could potentially be affected receive appropriate guidance, testing and support, Clearlake officials said in a press release. … ” Read more from the Lake County Record-Bee.
E-scooters sometimes end up in Sacramento’s waterways. Who removes them?
“Two bird rental e-scooters lay stuck in the mud along the riverbank near the Tower Bridge, just feet from the water. It’s a scene river cleanup volunteers say they encounter far more often than most Sacramento residents may realize. Sacramento’s current rental e-scooter market is shared by Bird and Lime. Most rental scooters are located in Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. While the scooters are typically used for short-distance travel, some are abandoned or even intentionally dumped in waterways. Crystal Tobias is a longtime river cleanup volunteer in the Sacramento region. She said e-scooters have become a recurring problem during river cleanups she’s participated in. “Oh, dozens and dozens of them,” Tobias said. “Maybe over a hundred. It’s every waterway… Steelhead Creek, Arcade Creek, the American River, Discovery Park. It’s just rampant.” … ” Read more from Capital Public Radio.
Research: Heterosigma akashiwo in San Francisco Bay
“A new study by several scientists examines the environmental conditions that fueled a massive algal bloom in the San Francisco Bay. By analyzing water quality, circulation, and microscopic communities, the research helps explain how rare combinations of factors can drive major ecological events, including blooms of Heterosigma akashiwo, a species first identified in Japan. … ” Continue reading from the USGS.
Salinas Valley: A local effort is underway to build an inventory of smaller wells, but it is slow going.
“For the first time, thanks to mandates from the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), a local effort to collect reliable data on small, private wells in the Salinas Valley groundwater basin is underway. The effort, run by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA) in partnership with the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA), aims to fill a major data gap under SGMA by building an inventory of these wells to assess their vulnerability and create drought contingency plans. “We are not asking rural residents to report the extractions,” says Piret Harmon, general manager of SVBGSA. “Because the hydrogeology is quite complex, it makes a big difference where exactly and how deep they are, how old they are, because that’s the only way we can truly understand where we need to focus our efforts in assuring everyone has sustainable groundwater.” … ” Read more from Monterey Now.
Growers in Paso Robles basin have new way to save water: fallow fields
“San Luis Obispo County has designed a new program to support farmers who wish to stop irrigating their land. The goal: To reduce overpumping in the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Basin. It’s one of 21 basins in the state considered “critically overdrafted” by the California Department of Water Resources, which means more water is pumped from the basin than is returned. On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to create a registry for farmers who voluntarily decide to fallow their land. Supervisor John Peschong abstained from the vote. Farmers who enroll in the program will maintain county property tax benefits related to their status as agricultural producers. Meanwhile, contrary to county law, they also will be allowed to resume irrigating their land when they want to, even if it is fallowed for more than five years. … ” Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Kings County groundwater agency threatens to fine landowners $1,000 a day and shut off wells if they don’t register and report extractions
“The Southwest Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) held its first meeting in six months and covered a lot of ground including setting a policy to fine landowners $1,000 a day for not registering their wells and vowing to sue a neighboring GSA. It also changed the location of its meetings from 944 Whitley Ave. in Corcoran to 19813 Madison Ave. in Stratford, a facility owned by Sandridge Partners, which is controlled by Southwest’s chair John Vidovich. Neither location is within the Southwest GSA, which runs along the southwestern edge of the Tulare Lake subbasin. Southwest’s next meeting will be at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6 in Stratford. The well registration deadline is also set for Feb. 6, with a 20-day grace period before the penalty kicks in, according to the policy approved at the GSA’s Jan. 30 meeting. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
LA County supervisors ask Sheriff’s Department to fix unsafe water in jails
“Brown, bug-filled drinking water has been coming out of the taps at one county jail for years, according to reports from an oversight commission. The Sybil Brand Commission conducts regular, unannounced inspections of jails and lockup facilities maintained by the county, and has been reporting issues with drinking water at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood since 2023. The commission has also found problems with the drinking water at other county jails in recent months. L.A. County Supervisors voted on Tuesday, calling for the Sheriff’s Department to fix water quality issues at all county jails within 180 days. … ” Read more from the LAist.
Nobody knows what to do with LA’s 1,000-acre urban oilfield
“Although the pumpjack shots in “L.A. Confidential” suggest a deserted oil field, some location likely far outside a city center, the real-life Inglewood Oil Field used in the film is flanked by several densely populated residential communities deep within the Westside. Sure, pumpjacks can be found elsewhere throughout LA, including farther down near Long Beach and hiding inside some fake city buildings, but at 1,000 acres (all just a stone’s throw from LAX), Inglewood Oil Field still holds the distinction of being the largest urban outpost of its kind in the United States. But what the century-old oil field might become in the future is anyone’s guess. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
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