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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Drought conditions are increasingly threatening food supplies
all over the world. At the College of Horticulture at Nanjing
Agricultural University, a team of scientists just made a
breakthrough that could help to grow crops that can survive
these harsher conditions, Phys.org reported. The scientists
discovered a genetic mechanism in wild pear trees that allows
the plants to tolerate drought. Their findings were published
in a study in the scientific journal Horticulture Research.
“Our findings reveal a critical regulatory network that wild
pears use to combat drought stress. Understanding this
mechanism opens up new possibilities for engineering
drought-resistant crops, which is vital in the face of
increasing climate variability,” said Dr. Xiaosan Huang, one of
the study’s authors. The implications of this discovery could
be big.
So far in this year’s California’s wildfire season, about 20
times more acres of land have burned than around this time last
year. Since the beginning of the year, there were more than
3,500 wildfires across the state through early July, causing
about 207,000 acres of land to burn. Around this time last
year, about 10,000 acres had burned. The five-year average of
acres burned through mid-July is about 39,000, Cal Fire said
last week. “We are not just in a fire season, but we are in a
fire year,” Joe Tyler, director of the California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said at a news
conference earlier in July. … In hot, dry and windy
conditions, as has been the case in California, sparks can
ignite into flames. Gov. Gavin Newsom additionally cited record
high temperatures and lightning strikes as the source of some
of the fires. “Climate change is real … If you don’t believe in
science, you have to believe your own eyes, the lived
experience all of us have out here in the western United
States, for that matter, all around the globe,” he said.
When salmon return from the ocean to the Klamath River after
the world’s largest dam removal project ends this fall, they
will regain access to 400 miles of historical spawning habitat
their species has been cut off from for more than a century.
From the river to the lab, looking at the very ear bones of
fish, scientists with the University of California, Davis, are
playing a key role helping to answer a big dam question: Will
it work? Will a diverse population of salmon thrive again once
the dams are removed and the Klamath River restored? The
answers are important not only for the Klamath but also for
dams across the world that have outlived their usefulness. Less
than 100 miles south of Klamath, for instance, is the Eel
River, where a dam is slated to be removed in 2028. In 2023
alone, 80 dams were demolished across the U.S.
The San Joaquin Valley recently received some good news about
its groundwater: We are replenishing more of it whenever we
have the chance. Comparing two recent wet years — 2017 to 2023
— the volume of water returned to the Valley’s groundwater
aquifers through recharge increased by 17%. This finding,
released by the Public Policy Institute of California,
validates the hard work of all those who helped move the needle
on groundwater recharge in the past six years. But we can’t let
our foot off the gas now. The partnerships forged,
research conducted, policies developed, risks taken and hours
spent in the field charted the course for 2023’s positive
momentum, and we must keep going to realize the full potential
of recharge in California. – By Ashley Boren, CEO of Sustainable Conservation.
A federal judge approved a consent decree Friday in a case
brought by a California environmental nonprofit against Butte
County over a county-run solid waste facility. That nonprofit,
California Open Lands, maintains a wetland preserve in Butte
County that leads to a Sacramento River tributary. The wetland
sits near the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility — and
during a major rainstorm in 2019, the nonprofit said the
facility allowed contaminants to seep out of its facility and
into the wetland.
Water officials in Tucson are launching a new initiative that
asks apartment complexes and commercial buildings to remove
their grass landscaping and conserve water — in exchange for a
rebate from the city. The initiative began this month and
offers $5 for every square foot of water-thirsty grass that’s
removed. It aims to save more than 9 million gallons of water
over the next two years by replacing that turf with more
drought-friendly landscaping. James MacAdam, an administrator
with the conservation and stormwater resources division at
Tucson Water, says water used inside — like to flush the toilet
— can be recycled back into the system for other purposes like
landscaping. “But when you use water for irrigation, that
water’s just being used once. And for us, that’s Colorado River
resources that is coming from a long way, takes a lot of money,
energy, resources to get it here,” he said. He says asking
businesses and apartments to swap ornamental lawn features —
like those in parking lots — for drought-resistant alternatives
can help tamp down on that type of water use.
The Marin Municipal Water District is exploring options to
increase its storage capacity by modifying spillways on
reservoir dams. The district board recently authorized spending
up to $2.2 million to design proposals for potential projects
at Nicasio Reservoir, Soulajule Reservoir, Kent Lake and Alpine
Lake. Spillways are the parts of a dam that provide controlled
release of water downstream. Work has already been done to
determine that it could be possible to alter Seeger Dam at the
Nicasio Reservoir with floodgates to add about 3,000 acre-feet
of storage capacity. Early estimations indicate it would be
around a $5 million construction project.
Celebrating the successful funding of $35 million for the
Rancho Cañada Floodplain Restoration Project on the Carmel
River, federal, state, and local partners gathered Friday at
Palo Corona’s Rancho Cañada Unit to mark the milestone which
will further return a former golf course to nature. “Today we
mark a major investment in this land because it is going to be
a major enhancement for our environment with this floodplain
restoration project,” said Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley.
“A project to restore the Carmel River in this special 1-mile
section in its natural state so that it reconnects with its
historic floodplain habitat.” That reconnection will create a
mosaic of resilient and self-sustaining habitats that provide
refuge for sensitive wildlife species, such as steelhead and
the California red-legged frog, and a restored park for the
community. Funding has now been secured to begin construction
of the restoration project next summer.
The U.S. Geological Survey published its annual accounting of
the Navajo aquifer which underlies Black Mesa on the Navajo
Nation. The aquifer supplies drinking water to Kayenta, Tuba
City and the Hopi villages. The USGS has monitored the levels
in several dozen wells tapped into the Navajo aquifer since the
1970s. Hydrologist Jon Mason, who authored the report, says the
data show the aquifer is “healthy.” “It’s really high-quality
water, too, which is unusual for a desert, so it’s a really
amazing aquifer. And it’s still intact. There’s still a lot of
water there to be used if they want to use it,” he says.
Work continues this week on the city of Healdsburg’s Municipal
Recycled Water Pipeline Project. This project will provide
recycled water for landscaping at city parks, the golf course,
the cemetery, and some public school facilities rather than
drinking water to serve these areas. Healdsburg currently gets
about 80 percent of its water supply from the upper Russian
River, making the city particularly vulnerable to supply
shortages in Lake Mendocino. Approximately 20 percent of the
city’s water supply is from Dry Creek via Lake Sonoma. The
pipeline project will make the city more resilient to future
droughts. During non-drought years, it will allow more water to
remain in the streams and reservoirs, benefiting the natural
areas surrounding local waterways.
Stantec, along with the Bureau of Reclamation and Friant Water
Authority in Lindsay, California, has announced completion of
the first phase of construction for a 10-mile section of the
Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project. The
canal, which delivers water to more than 1 million acres of
highly productive farmland and 250,000 residents, is being
restored after years of canal capacity loss due to land
subsidence — a sinking of the earth from groundwater removal.
The eastern San Joaquin Valley is part of California’s Central
Valley, which produces about a quarter of the U.S. food supply.
Stantec was selected as the engineer of record for the 33-mile,
multiphase project in 2017. The $326 million phase-one portion
of the project to replace 10 miles of canal began construction
in late 2021. The Bureau of Reclamation owns the canal, while
the Friant Water Authority operates and maintains it.
For most people, the coffee-colored waters of the Suisun Marsh
are just a body of water you pass by on the way to the Bay
Area. To James Burge, the marsh is so much more. “Water for me
and I believe a lot of people, after they experience it, is
calming. It’s good for the soul, good for the mind, can
destress and just kind of connect yourself with nature,” he
said. Burge runs Grizzly Waters Kayaking out of Suisun City, an
intimate and sometimes windy tour of the largest tidal estuary
west of the Mississippi. “‘Suisun’ means ‘the west wind’
literally, so the Suisun Indians are people of the west winds,”
Burge explained. Unlike a swamp, a marsh generally doesn’t have
trees to break the wind. In the case of Suisun Marsh, tule
reeds are the main respite from wind. “They’re native plants to
the area and they were used for everything from shelters to
baskets, to even duck decoys,” said Burge. The Suisun Marsh
spans a little over 110,000 acres. The brackish water here is a
mix of fresh water from the California delta colliding with the
Pacific Ocean, attracting a diverse range of birds.
As California continues to experience sweltering heat waves
this summer, many of us might be tempted to seek out the
nearest body of water for some refreshing respite from the high
temperatures when they arrive. Unfortunately, this weather can
also bring potential danger to those waters in the form of
algae blooms that discolor our lakes and bays and pose serious
health hazards for humans and animals. One such algae bloom in
Discovery Bay, in eastern Contra Costa County, has already
prompted the California State Water Resources Control Board to
issue a danger advisory last week, warning of harmful algal
blooms. … Down in Monterey County, officials also closed Lake
San Antonio to the public on the heels of a massive fish
die-off. While they are still waiting on the results of water
testing, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said
that oxygen depletion due to warm water may be to blame.
Environmental solutions services provider Veolia North America
announced that it completed $40 million in upgrades to the
Richmond Water Pollution Control plant. The project, which took
three years to complete, improves treatment processes,
environmental compliance, and odor control for the city of
Richmond, Calif. and surrounding communities in the San
Francisco Bay. “These vital improvements will make a
significant impact in how the wastewater treatment plant
functions in the community, by improving the quality of treated
water released into San Francisco Bay, delivering more
efficient operations to the city, and better controlling the
odors produced by the wastewater treatment process,” commented
Karine Rougé, CEO for Municipal Water at Veolia North
America.
Western lawmakers are urging the Bureau of Reclamation to
increase the amount of money it spends on water recycling
projects, citing rising construction costs. California Sen.
Alex Padilla (D) and Rep. Grace Napolitano (D) on Friday
pressed the Biden administration to raise the per-project cap
on federal funding for water recycling by $10 million, up from
its current $30 million limit. “As the West continues to
recover from the impacts of long-term drought while also
preparing for inevitable future droughts, it is imperative that
the federal government continues to invest in local water
supplies to meet the demands of recycled water in the West,”
the lawmakers wrote in a Friday letter to Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.
After brutal wildfire seasons in 2020 and 2021, California has
enjoyed two mild years in a row. The good fortune was driven
largely by rain and snow that ended three years of drought.
What’s on tap for this summer and fall? Nobody knows for sure.
But three points are key, experts say. First, California had a
wet winter this year, with rainfall since Oct. 1 in San
Francisco at 113% of normal, 157% in Los Angeles, and 92% in
Fresno. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was 111% of normal on April
1. Second, California has a Mediterranean climate, and
wildfires are part of the state’s natural landscape. Third,
wildfires have generally been getting worse across the West in
recent decades. Climate change is raising temperatures and
drying out vegetation more than in the past. Forests in many
areas are unnaturally dense after generations of fire
suppression by state and federal agencies. And more people are
moving to fire-prone areas, increasing fire risk from power
lines, vehicles and other human causes.
A roundly castigated proposal to build a holding reservoir
above Isabella Lake in order to pump water up from the lake and
run it back down through turbines for power – known as pumped
energy storage – is back. And it brought friends.
There are now three pumped energy storage proposals in Kern
County, including the old-now-new-again Isabella proposal. That
proposal and another for a project near Rosamond are undergoing
review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for
preliminary permits. FERC is seeking public comments on both
proposals through Aug 12. A third proposal, for a project in
the mountains above Gorman (though it’s listed as
Tehachapi) has an approved preliminary permit from FERC.
For years, scientists have worried about “forever chemicals,”
substances used to make hundreds of household items that have
been linked by research to a wide range of health problems. In
response, a growing number of companies have pledged not to use
the chemicals, and regulators have increasingly taken aim at
them. But even as work continues to phase out the
substances, scientists are beginning to focus on new types that
are far more widespread than earlier realized — prompting
worries about undetected health risks. A growing body of
research has raised concerns about a forever chemical known as
TFA, which is short for trifluoroacetic acid and has been found
in increasing amounts in rainwater, groundwater and drinking
water. The chemical has a composition that scientists say may
make it especially hard to filter, although scientists lack
consensus on whether it poses a human health risk.
Erosion is happening before our eyes. I took
pictures on June 21 to remember this moment that is now
commonplace worldwide, people meeting extreme weather at home —
in our case, Castle Valley, Utah. Add other pictures of most of
Grand County flooding, including downtown Moab and you have a
more complete picture of the week we had two flash floods
within days of each other. Highway 124, locally known as
the “River Road,” looked like the first day of creation as
dozens and dozens of pink sediment-laden waterfalls were
cascading off red rock cliffs reaching the Colorado River in
seconds. I didn’t know there could be that much free falling
water in the desert in times of drought. San Juan
County also experienced violent flash floods that
reshaped and redistributed sand and land within the Valley of
the Gods that no god of flesh or stone could control.
— By Terry Tempest Williams, writer-in-residence at the
Harvard Divinity School. She divides her time between Utah and
Massachusetts
… In this California WaterBlog post, we summarize a
recent PPIC report that describes innovations that will
help the state protect native biodiversity under climate
change. We propose the adoption of climate-smart conservation
frameworks and tools in all efforts to protect and restore
native species. This includes utilizing a portfolio of
actions—some controversial and experimental—along with a
willingness to take risks. We hope that this report inspires
scientists, engineers, resource managers, decision makers,
watershed groups, and many others to take urgent action before
we lose our legacy of freshwater biodiversity.
