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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A proposal to allow development in metro Phoenix despite low
groundwater supplies was voted into effect Friday by a state
rulemaking agency. Groundwater is protected in urban areas
which are part of “active management areas.” Last year,
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs limited certain kinds of
development in areas like Buckeye and Queen Creek because
models show basin levels are low and certificates that prove
100 years of assured water supply would fall short based on new
data. The new rules approved by the Governor’s Regulatory
Review Council on Friday allow building if developers use new
water sources and offset groundwater pumping.
Los Osos [San Luis Obispo County] may be in line for an $8
million federal grant to connect the community to the State
Water Project that runs to Morro Bay. The water would provide a
supplemental source to the town of 14,000, which is now 100%
dependent on groundwater wells for drinking water. The money
would come from the annual Water Resources Development Act
(WRDA) funding through the Army Corp of Engineers, which passed
both houses of Congress this summer and is expected to be
signed into law, according to a representative from Congressman
Salud Carbajal’s office. That House version of the bill
includes an earmark for Los Osos Community Services District to
receive $8 million to pay the cost of laying a 2.5-mile,
12-inch pipeline to connect to the State Water Project that
brings Northern California reservoir water to the Central
Coast.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has
seen the first returns of threatened coho salmon to the upper
Klamath River Basin in more than 60 years following
historic dam removal completed last month. Not since the
construction of the former Iron Gate Dam in the early 1960s has
CDFW documented coho salmon occupying their historic habitat in
the upper watershed. On Nov. 13, seven coho salmon entered
CDFW’s new Fall Creek Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County, which
is located on Fall Creek, a formerly inaccessible Klamath River
tributary about 7.5 miles upstream of the former Iron Gate Dam
location.
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved 24 habitat
protection and restoration projects spanning 25 counties across
more than 21,600 acres at its Nov. 21 quarterly meeting. One of
the grants restores 67 acres of wetland, riparian, and upland
habitat at Carr Lake in the heart of the city of Salinas,
providing much needed open space to a community area with
limited access to parks and nature. The WCB’s $4
million grant to the Big Sur Land Trust—in a cooperative
project with the California Natural Resources Agency, the
California Department of Water Resources, and the State
Coastal Conservancy—increases biodiversity, decreases and
treats stormwater flows and improves public access to
nature.
Members of the public are invited to join a local expert on a
half-day tour exploring Terminus Dam and two nature preserves
that are part of the Kaweah River watershed will be held
Wednesday, Dec. 4. Sponsored by the Sequoia Riverlands
Trust, the annual tour is open to the public and provides an
opportunity to learn more about a watershed that is directly
connected to Tulare County’s agricultural and economic
strength. It is also vital to the area’s native plant and
animal species.
City of Holtville officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony
Thursday morning to celebrate the opening of the city’s
decades-long Wetlands project, conceived by Elwood “Pete”
Mellinger. The $4.6 million, 31-acre project made several
residents joyous at the event, especially Holtville resident
Mary Martinez, whose backyard scene has completely changed with
the project. Years back, the property used to be so filled with
trees that nobody could walk through.
… The Sacramento perch is unique. … Once highly abundant in
California’s Central Valley, Salinas and Pajaro Rivers, and
Clear Lake, it is now absent from its native waters.
… man-made water infrastructure, such as reservoirs,
ponds, culverts, and canals can provide habitat for native
species at risk, even if the modified areas have not been
historically considered native fish habitat. In an era when
ecosystem-wide change is sometimes irreversible, conservation
should be geared towards reconciliation rather than returning
to unattainable historic conditions. Thinking outside the box
on conventional conservation is key
Researchers have identified a by-product of a chemical used to
disinfect the tap water of millions of Americans. But the
discovery, reported Thursday in the journal Science, cannot yet
say if the chemical — chloronitramide anion — is toxic to
our health. Separately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has
advocated the removal of fluoride from drinking water.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of
Health and Human Services has claimed that fluoride consumption
is associated with medical conditions such as bone fractures
and neurodevelopmental disorders. The presence of these
chemicals — chloronitramide anion and fluoride — has led to
some concerns about the safety of tap water in the United
States. But researchers, including those who discovered the
anion, said that these concerns, while understandable, are
unnecessary. Tap water generally is safe to drink, they said.
… The story of how the Aurora wound up here, decayed and
posing a threat to Stockton’s drinking water supply, is a tale
emblematic of California’s Delta. The estuary at the head of
San Francisco Bay provides fresh water to two-thirds of the
state. But it is also a world unto itself, its winding channels
home to fifth-generation farm families, solitary fishermen,
houseboaters and artists living off the grid — and its delicate
ecosystem under constant threat from a variety of assaults, not
the least of which are abandoned boats and their toxic spew.
The Aurora’s demise is the saga, too, of the broken dreams of a
long line of men who have been bewitched by this ship. They
include Chris Willson, the most recent owner willing to be
publicly identified. Willson says he sold the boat last fall to
a buyer who doesn’t want his name disclosed, after finally
accepting, with a crushing thud, that his vision for a
resurrected Aurora would never come to fruition.
Phillips 66, which last month announced plans to close its
Los Angeles-area refineries by the end of 2025, was indicted
Wednesday for allegedly discharging hundreds of thousands of
gallons of industrial waste from its Carson oil refinery into
the Los Angeles County sewer system during the pandemic, the
U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday. The oil refiner, which
federal attorneys claim failed to report violations to
authorities, is charged with two counts of negligently
violating the Clean Water Act and four counts of knowingly
violating the 52-year-old federal law designed to regulate
pollution in US waterways, according to documents filed in
federal court in Los Angeles.
In California, groundwater has long been a critical resource,
especially for agricultural landowners. The passage of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 marked a
turning point in the state’s water management strategy, aiming
to address persistent issues of groundwater overdraft. SGMA
seeks to ensure sustainable groundwater use, but it has also
introduced new regulatory limitations that affect property
owners’ rights to extract groundwater beneath their land. The
California State Water Resources Control Board plays
a central role in enforcing SGMA’s objectives. As local
Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) work to implement
Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs), the SWRCB intervenes
when these plans are inadequate or absent. This expanded
authority raises significant legal questions about the balance
between protecting water resources and respecting property
rights. This article explores the SWRCB’s evolving role and how
its enforcement actions under SGMA intersect with property
owners’ groundwater rights, especially considering potential
regulatory takings claims.
Looking over a tangle of water pipes of varying sizes, George
Hanson, a water utility manager with the City of Roseville,
said the system is a big part of the city’s future. “It
essentially allows us to diversify our water supply portfolio,”
Hanson said. That’s because the pipes are set up to store water
underground by syphoning storm water from the Folsom dam, when
weather events such as atmospheric rivers dump huge amounts of
water. … This type of groundwater recharge
is an important way to help the state’s water supply moving
forward, said permitting program manager with the State Water
Board, Amanda Montgomery.
The Biden administration on Wednesday released four
alternatives to address the drought-stricken Colorado River’s
water shortages, giving seven states, 30 tribes and the 40
million people who rely on the river a taste of how the vital
waterway will be managed in the coming decades. But the
announcement offers little in the way of hard details, with a
draft environmental impact statement analyzing the impacts of
the Department of Interior’s proposed alternatives pushed back
to next year. The states, meanwhile, remain divided over the
path forward to deal with shortages on the river.
Wastewater agencies are playing a crucial role in shaping a
sustainable water future by increasingly reusing highly treated
water. Since the 1980s, the use of recycled water in California
has nearly tripled, highlighting its growing importance in
addressing the water needs of an expanding population. Governor
Newsom’s August 2022 Water Supply Strategy sets ambitious
targets for the recycling of water, aiming to recycle at least
800,000 acre-feet per year by 2030 and 1.8 million acre-feet by
2040. This vision primarily involves redirecting wastewater
that would otherwise be discharged into oceans.
… Yet despite Kennedy’s looming advisement, the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration says the decision to fluoridate a water
supply is made by state or local municipalities, and is not
mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency or any other
federal body. Fluoridation is common in California and
throughout the country, while studies have shown it can help
populations improve oral health, particularly in lower income
areas. A CDC study suggested fluoridation saved an estimated
$6.5 billion a year in dental treatment costs.
Governor Gavin Newsom [on Nov. 21] celebrated the votes over
the past week by three water agencies of the next phase of
funding for the Delta Conveyance Project, while a diverse
coalition of opponents blasted the project as
a massive and expensive boondoggle that would hasten the
extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other fish
species and cause enormous harm to Delta and Tribal
communities. The Alameda County Water District, Desert Water
Agency, and Palmdale Water District all voted in favor of
supporting the Delta Tunnel, according to the Governor’s
Office. These follow other water agencies throughout the
state that have also voted in favor of moving the next phase of
the project forward.
Many of the estuaries in the United States were once much
larger than previously known, a critical finding as
policymakers work to protect and restore these ecosystems. …
The finding on current and historical estuary size comes from a
study, published in November in the journal Biological
Conservation, exploring how 30 of the country’s estuaries have
changed from as early as 1842 to today. The study determined
that estuaries along the Pacific Coast have lost, on average,
more than 60% of their tidal marshes since mapping began, while
tidal marshes along the East Coast have decreased in size by 8%
over that span. Conversely, some Gulf of Mexico estuaries have
remained stable or grown over time—migrating landward into
adjacent forests—while others in that region have barely shrunk
at all.
… “One of the big goals for rebuilding the park is to allow
that natural hydrology to occur as well, and
that means retaining stormwater,” said [Will] Fourt. “So not
conveying it out quickly, but letting it soak in, letting it be
here.” One trail in the old growth forest has already been
rebuilt with this in mind. The trail is completely flat, but
raised on a bed of rocks that allows water to flow under and
pool next to it. Both parks’ utilities and water treatment
systems were also damaged in the fire … Visitors need to plan
on bringing water, especially when visiting Big Basin, said
Fourt. With the canopy gone, Big Basin is a lot warmer
and drier than before.
As extreme weather events become more intense and more common,
states already face an estimated backlog of nearly $1 trillion
for deferred maintenance and needed upgrades to public
infrastructure. To finance long-overdue repairs and ensure that
America’s roads, bridges, and water systems can withstand
future climate impacts, states are turning to new strategies
and adapting existing approaches to address the substantial
work needed to boost the resilience of these vital systems.
… California residents recently passed a $10 billion
bond proposal, which would cover similar water
infrastructure improvements and projects to protect these
systems from the effects of extreme heat.
Several miles of century-old lead-lined telephone cables laid
along the bottom of Lake Tahoe, feared by many locals to have
leached toxic chemicals into the water, have been removed. News
of the removal came Thursday afternoon from the League to Save
Lake Tahoe, a nonprofit conservation group that helped
coordinate the effort in partnership with telecommunications
giant AT&T, which is believed to have owned the cables in
question.
