A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Director Chris Bowman.
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Increased water allocations from systems that move water from
northern to southern California were met with disappointment
and frustration from contractors. Both the Department of Water
Resources and Bureau of Reclamation increased allocations this
week to 40% of contracted amounts, going up 10% and 5%,
respectively. With nearly all the state’s reservoirs filled to
above average levels, the increases were seen as stingy, at
best. “This allocation increase is incredibly disappointing and
should be much higher,” said Kern County Water Agency Board of
Directors President Ted Page in a press release. … The
presence of the fish “triggered state and federal regulations”
that put an automatic crimp on pumping, the release states.
Page objected to that sort of snap regulatory reaction saying
the restrictions are “based on outdated fish population
estimating tools.”
Two massive local water purification projects set to begin
construction within the next 18 months have received up to $182
million from water wholesaler Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. The regional water agency funds are headed
for a $700 million groundwater replenishment project in the San
Fernando Valley and a $364 million water purification project
in the Westlake Village area. Contractors have been selected
for both projects, which are set to begin construction within
the next 18 months. “For decades, investments in local projects
have helped strengthen Southern California’s resiliency by
reducing demands for imported water supplies and decreasing the
burden on our system,” said Nancy Sutley, Metropolitan board’s
vice chair of climate action.
At least 35 people have been killed and dozens of others are
missing after a dam burst in southern Kenya, sweeping away
homes and vehicles as the country grapples with weeks of heavy
rains and devastating flash floods. A CNN team on the ground in
Kenya’s Rift Valley town Mai Mahiu has seen overturned
vehicles, uprooted trees and homes which had been swept away in
mass flooding. CNN witnessed damage to one of the most affected
areas from flooding in Kenya’s north-western Nakuru county,
which spanned several kilometers in every direction. A
distraught man told CNN that he feared several of his family
members were still buried under
the mud and debris.
The way water used to burst from the ground in Las Vegas is
hard for me to fathom — until I actually see photos of it.
There is a reason they call Las Vegas “the meadows.” Before all
the concrete and master-planned communities, before traffic,
red cones and cranes, Las Vegas relied on artesian wells.
Because of the geology beneath the Earth’s surface, underground
pressure and physics, these coveted artesian wells sprayed
water into the air without pumping. In Las Vegas, such wells
offered an early water supply. These were the free-flowing and
freewheeling days of Las Vegas water.
On May 7, scientists from University of California, Riverside,
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, Colorado State University
Extension, Kansas State University, University of Arizona,
Central Arizona Project, and USDA-Agricultural Research Service
will gather with growers in Palm Desert to discuss how
artificial intelligence can be used in agriculture.
Marina-area residents are looking at a jump in the cost of
their water that can be as high as 20% a year in order to raise
money for repair and replacement of dilapidated infrastructure
like pipes and pumps. The Marina Coast Water District board of
directors approved an increase on April 22 but has to hold a
special meeting Monday to correct errors in what it calls its
2024 Five-Year Rate Study. It also approved a Proposition 218
mailing, which requires special districts in California to send
out notices to every property owner within the district service
area notifying them of a rate change and allowing them to
protest the change. Before any increase can legally take
effect, the district board of directors need to hold a public
hearing in mid-June.
Coronado lifeguards use leak-proof dry suits for open water
rescues. Imperial Beach lifeguards decontaminate in showers
after leaving the ocean. And both have ditched jet skis for the
protection offered by boats. These aren’t new equipment
standards.They are tools the two South County departments have
rolled out independently to protect themselves from daily
exposure to polluted, sewage-tainted waters. No safety
standards exist for lifeguards who come into contact with
contaminated water while trying to save lives.
One of the most terrifying features of the climate crisis is
how it jeopardizes our access to water, without which we cannot
live. Some two billion people lack safe drinking water, while
about almost two thirds of the human population suffers water
scarcity for some part of the year. This in turn imperils food
security, since agriculture is impossible without
water. As climate change exacerbates water shortages,
water profiteering is making the problem even worse. The
barbaric capitalist insistence on treating water as a commodity
incentivizes scarcity and hoarding, as well as imposing ever
more extreme levels of thirst upon the world’s poor. -Written by Liza Featherstone, the author
of Divining Desire: Focus Groups and the Culture of
Consultation.
For years, scientists have said that atmospheric rivers can
either make or break the water supplies of thirsty California
cities and farms. For the last two winters, a steady succession
of these giant “rivers in the sky” have dumped record-breaking
and drought-busting precipitation across the state, while
simultaneously causing catastrophic floods, landslides, and
dangerous blizzards. But now, new research has found that these
recent atmospheric rivers pale in comparison to some of the
monster storms that battered ancient California — a sobering
revelation that suggests to some experts that the state could
be revisited once again by such cataclysmic storms.
… The study’s findings do not bode well for a state
whose flood infrastructure was severely strained last year,
when a train of atmospheric rivers breached numerous levees,
flooded communities and re-filled once dry Tulare Lake.
The Pacific Northwest lays claim to well over two-fifths of
America’s dam-derived electricity. So when a drought hits the
region, the nation takes notice. That happened in 2023
when, according to a recent report, U.S. hydroelectric
power hit its lowest level in 22 years. … Last year offered
energy providers in the West a glimpse of the conditions they
may need to adapt to as the world warms and seasonal weather
patterns shift. While models predict climate change will plunge
California and the Southwest deeper into drought, what awaits
Washington and Oregon is less clear.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta faces significant
challenges affecting the health of its waterways and ecosystem,
and stewards say state agencies must accelerate efforts to
prepare for the impacts of climate change and a growing urban
landscape. Delta Stewardship Council staff presented the
Delta Plan Five Year Review on Thursday, recommending numerous
measures to preserve precious water and environmental habitats
against future crises such as extreme drought, sea level rise
and earthquakes. The council recommended that stewards work
with state regulators to improve the delta’s ecosystems and
reduce reliance on delta water, and with landowners to identify
affordable uses of sinking land for sustainable farming.
Water users in the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability
Agency shot down a proposed pumping fee that would have been
nearly $100 per acre-foot. That sends the Mid-Kings River
GSA back to the drawing board, with local stakeholders calling
for more input in the next proposal. The
backstory: California views that the GSA – which comprises
of water users in the Kings County Water District, the City of
Hanford and Kings County – has not done enough to manage
groundwater pumping through the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). SGMA was passed by the Legislature
in 2014, and it governs how agencies in critically overdrafted
areas achieve groundwater sustainability.
The water in Imperial Beach could soon be much cleaner. A
legislative package protecting the Tijuana River Watershed was
passed by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee Wednesday.
The two bills address corporate pollution tainting California’s
water supply. Companies responsible for sewage, garbage and
chemicals that are spilling over from south of the border and
contaminating the waters of San Diego could soon be held
accountable by having to pay fines depending on how much waste
they improperly dump.
Colorado voters may be asked to let more money flow to water
projects by allowing the state to keep all of the sports
betting tax revenue it collects, if a measure referring the
issue to the November ballot is approved by lawmakers. House
Bill 1436 … collects a 10% tax on the proceeds of licensed
sports betting. Some of the money is used to cover the cost of
regulating betting and the rest, up to $29 million total, is
funneled toward water projects. In the event tax collections
exceed $29 million, the legislature decides how to refund the
money under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
A water transfer from a small western Arizona town to a growing
East Valley community has some observers concerned. About a
decade ago, a company called Greenstone bought nearly 500 acres
of land in the town of Cibola, in La Paz County. But, a few
years later, Greenstone sold the water rights for that farmland
to Queen Creek. In the process, the company made about $14
million in profit. Since then, La Paz and two other Arizona
counties have sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, arguing the
agency didn’t consider the long-term implications when it
approved the deal. A judge this year sided with those counties,
and told the bureau to essentially redo its environmental
assessment of the arrangement.
Coastal wetlands—including salt marshes, tidal forested
wetlands, and seagrasses—can sequester more carbon per acre
than inland forests, making them some of the world’s most
effective natural carbon sinks. So, states [including
California] are increasingly incorporating the protection and
restoration of these “blue carbon” habitats into their broader
initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet their
climate change goals. Although states use different approaches
to incorporating coastal wetlands into their climate planning,
some common elements are high-level leadership and policy
goals, quality data and established methodologies for
understanding blue carbon trends, and partnerships for
effective implementation.
For more than 15 years, Valley Water has measured mercury
levels in reservoirs and creeks in the Guadalupe River
Watershed and studied ways to reduce the metal’s harmful
impacts. Parts of the Guadalupe River watershed, which covers
about 171 square miles, are contaminated with mercury from the
former New Almaden Mining District. The mining and processing
of mercury occurred in the area from 1845 through 1971. These
operations released large amounts of mercury into parts of the
Guadalupe River watershed, which flows into South San Francisco
Bay. Mercury-enriched sediment from mining waste made its way
into creeks and reservoirs within the watershed. Creeks flowing
in the watershed carry that sediment down the Guadalupe River
to San Francisco Bay, especially during wet years.
A generational issue for the families living in San Lucas
continues as they’ve gone decades without drinking water. Soon
federal, state, and local leaders will secure nearly a million
dollars to build a pipeline to King City. Advertisement “The
kids couldn’t even be bathed in the water. That’s how bad it is
that babies are not able to get bathed. That means there’s
something really wrong,” said Fray Marin-Zuniga, a San Lucas
resident. Plants not growing, animals dying, young children
unable to bathe, this is the reality for those living in the
unincorporated South Monterey County town of San Lucas. “Back
when I was in school here, because I graduated from San Lucas
School, the water was yellow,” Martin-Zuniga said.
Martin-Zuniga has lived in San Lucas his entire life, he shows
KSBW the dry skin condition that he’s developed on his arm. He
says as the years go by, the need for clean water has never
wavered.
Get ready for the latest scoop on the Klamath River dam removal
and restoration project! In the newest episode of the Fish
Water People Podcast, Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River
Renewal Corporation, is welcomed back to discuss exciting
updates on the once-in-a-lifetime restoration effort. In recent
months, significant milestones have been achieved, with
successful dam breaching at Iron Gate, Copco 1, and J.C. Boyle
in Southern Oregon – signifying a monumental leap forward in
the journey to restoring river vitality. Despite expected
challenges such as sediment management and ecological
adjustments, the project remains steadfast on its course.
Native vegetation is already beginning to sprout, breathing new
life into the ecosystem. Curious what lies ahead on this
monumental journey of renewal?
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to
approve $15 million in funding for the construction of the
Vista Grande Drainage Basin Improvement project. The project
aims to address persistent flooding in northern San Mateo
County and parts of San Francisco. “The project is expected to
provide a range of public benefits, including improved storm
drainage, water supply, wastewater disposal, solid waste
capture, recreation, and environmental enhancement benefits,”
county staff said in a report. According to county staff, much
of the flooding can be attributed to overflowing water at Lake
Merced during heavy downpours. The project will channel and
filter rainwater from the Vista Grande Watershed before
releasing it into the Pacific Ocean.
