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California’s Quest to Turn a Winter Menace Into a Water Supply Bonus is Gaining Favor Across the West
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: For years, atmospheric rivers were a mystery. Now, an innovative dam management approach is putting them to work

Image shows Lake Mendocino, the proving ground for Forecast-Informed Reservoir OperationsIn December 2012, dam operators at Northern California’s Lake Mendocino watched as a series of intense winter storms bore down on them. The dam there is run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ San Francisco District, whose primary responsibility in the Russian River watershed is flood control. To make room in the reservoir for the expected deluge, the Army Corps released some 25,000 acre-feet of water downstream — enough to supply nearly 90,000 families for a year.

Announcement

Registration Now Open for Annual Water Summit
One-day conference on Oct. 1 is the Foundation's premier annual event; Sign up for Klamath Tour and Grab a Ticket for NorCal Tour While They Last

Water Summit | October 1

Registration is now open for the Water Education Foundation’s 41ˢᵗ annual Water Summit featuring leading policymakers and experts in conversation about the latest information and insights on water in California and the West.

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news The Sacramento Bee (Calif.)

Monday Top of the Scroll: Nearly two-thirds of California is ‘abnormally dry.’ See where impacts are worst

Nearly two-thirds of California was “abnormally dry” as the state braced for more hot, dry weather and strong winds, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest update. About a third of the Golden State was experiencing “moderate” to “exceptional” drought conditions as of Thursday, June 19, the U.S. Drought Monitor said, with Southern California and parts of the Central Valley getting hit the hardest. … Recent hot spells and dryness have “manifested in rapidly developing soil moisture shortages, declining prospects for summer water supplies, an elevated wildfire threat, a boost in irrigation demands and increased stress on rain-fed crops,” researchers wrote in a weekly national drought summary. Bouts of warm weather have resulted in the rapid drying and early melting of the snow pack, leading to “a variety of agricultural and water-supply issues and concerns.”

Other drought news around the West:

Aquafornia news E&E News by Politico

Senate approves package of park, water and forest bills

The Senate on Wednesday approved a package of bills from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including legislation to shore up Colorado River water supplies and to expand a national park. Both Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski praised the bipartisan package. “I am hopeful that the Senate can pass more of these similar, very noncontroversial bills through the unanimous consent process,” Murkowski said on the Senate floor. … The measures include S. 154, the “Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act,” from Colorado Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet. That bill would renew a $125 million effort to reduce water use in the Upper Basin of the Colorado River. That region covers parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

Aquafornia news The Center Square

Ariz. House considers ‘Ag to Urban bill’ after Senate’s passage

The Arizona House is taking up the so-called “Ag to Urban bill.” The Senate approved the bipartisan measure Thursday. Also known as Senate Bill 1611, the measure provides what Senate Natural Resources Chair Thomas “T.J.” Shope calls solutions to Arizona’s most pressing issues: groundwater protection and skyrocketing home prices due to low supply. Under the bill, farmers would be allowed to sell their land and water rights to developers who will in turn build for-sale housing to meet the needs of Arizona’s growing population. In a press release, Shope, who’s also the Senate president pro tempore, called this “the most consequential piece of groundwater legislation” in decades. ”An analysis of the Ag-to-Urban program by the Arizona Department of Water Resources reveals our state will save 9.6-million-acre feet of water over the next 100 years,” said the Republican senator.

Other Arizona groundwater news:

Aquafornia news Communications Earth & Environment

Report: Wildfires drive multi-year water quality degradation over the western United States

Wildfires can dramatically alter water quality, resulting in severe implications for human and freshwater systems. However, regional-scale assessments of these impacts are often limited by data scarcity. Here, we unify observations from 1984–2021 in 245 burned watersheds across the western United States, comparing post-fire signals to baseline levels from 293 unburned basins. … Overall, this analysis provides strong evidence of multi-year water quality degradation following wildfires in the western United States and highlights the influence of basin and wildfire features. These insights may aid water managers in preparation efforts, increasing resilience of water systems to wildfire impacts.

Online Water Encyclopedia

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests and coral reefs in productivity. 

They produce high oxygen levels, filter water pollutants, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater.

Bay-Delta Tour participants viewing the Bay Model

Bay Model

Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.

Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb and flow lasting 14 minutes.

Aquapedia background Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years, creating California’s largest inland body of water. The Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130 miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe

Lake Oroville shows the effects of drought in 2014.

Drought

Drought—an extended period of limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns. During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021 prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies in watersheds across 41 counties in California.