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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Solano County has announced next steps for the controversial
California Forever development. The proposal, backed by
tech and finance billionaires, would build a new city of up to
400,000 people between Fairfield and Rio Vista. Officials
will announce by June 12 whether the project gained enough
signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Bill Emlen,
Solano County Administrator, said there’s not a lot of
information yet about how this new city could impact roadways
and water supplies.
Today, Senator Durazo amended Senate Bill 1255, which will
provide an avenue for universal water affordability rate
assistance for public water systems with more than 3,300
connections. As water rates continue to rise three times faster
than inflation, a water affordability program is necessary for
low-income families statewide.
A series of living levees — earthen embankments — along the San
Dieguito River could help protect affordable housing at the
fairgrounds and homes in Del Mar’s North Beach. As part of its
sea rise planning, Del Mar has completed a preliminary
conceptual plan for three living levees; structures that
slope gently to combine flood protection with habitat
restoration. … The levees will reduce, but not eliminate
flood risk.
Utah state officials reversed course this week on a key water
permit for a major lithium extraction project in the state,
agreeing with conservation advocates who asked for further
review of the project. In a decision issued Tuesday, Utah State
Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen said her office would suspend its
earlier approval of nearly 4.6 billion gallons of water to be
used by a mining company as part of a “direct lithium
extraction project” near the Green River. The office will
continue consideration of the proposal. Wilhelmsen’s ruling
came at the behest of conservation advocates who had raised
concerns about the location of the proposed wells — which would
draw water from an aquifer system 10,000 feet below the surface
— including the proximity to waste left by a former uranium
mining facility.
Making wine requires water. But how much? Water is a precious
resource in drought-prone California, and its use in
agriculture is rightfully a contentious topic. … While a wine
glut is compelling some grape growers to remove their
vineyards, some readers are suggesting that this might be a
good thing from a water use perspective. So I wanted to
understand: Just how big of a water suck are California
grapevines, really? The TLDR here is that California wine
grapes don’t gulp nearly as much water as crops like almonds,
pistachios and alfalfa. But the real story here is much more
complex …
An accidental release of crude oil into Bakersfield’s municipal
water system has temporarily shut down businesses and prompted
an advisory for about 40 commercial customers to avoid tap
water in the area south of Lake Truxtun. Signs of a possible
problem first appeared Monday afternoon, when pipes in the area
started shaking and spurting water from faucets.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) issued a
comical warning on Wednesday about a “two-faced creature” known
as the nutria, a rodent said to look like a cross between a rat
and a beaver. The nutria—recognizable by its vibrant orange
teeth—is native to South America and was introduced to the
United States in the 1800s as part of the fur trade. However,
once the trade plummeted, nutrias began to wreak havoc on U.S.
coastal environments they populated and have posed a problem
ever since. Maryland spent millions working to eradicate the
species, and other states are considering following
suit. However, the species isn’t just an East Coast
problem. The DWR issued the warning in the form of an
educational poster for California Invasive Species Action Week
depicting two nutrias. One looks sweet and cuddly and sports a
halo with the words “I am so cute” nearby. The other has red
eyes and the characteristic vibrant orange teeth with the words
“But I am a monster.”
Stormwater in L.A. and Orange Counties is captured via
spreading grounds, or large open areas of gravel and sand that
allow pools of water to form and percolate deep into
underground reservoirs. Since we’ve largely run out of room for
spreading grounds, other solutions are being explored. Slow it
down: Before we paved over our cities, water used to percolate
through soil across the region. Water agencies use dams to
capture and slowly release water over time to utilize spreading
grounds even during hot months. Use our yards: The majority of
L.A. is private property, meaning there’s a big opportunity for
owners to implement water features like swales, which can
capture water and allow it to sink into the soil, rather than
run out into the street.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
Last year’s snow deluge in California, which quickly erased a
two decade long megadrought, was essentially a
once-in-a-lifetime rescue from above, a new study found. Don’t
get used to it because with climate change the 2023 California
snow bonanza —a record for snow on the ground on April 1 — will
be less likely in the future, said the study in Monday’s
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
… UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part
of the study but specializes in weather in the U.S. West, said,
“I would not be surprised if 2023 was the coldest, snowiest
winter for the rest of my own lifetime in California.”
Six tribes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including two in
Colorado, have gained long-awaited access to discussions about
the basin’s water issues — talks that were formerly
limited to states and the federal government. Under an
agreement finalized this month, the tribes will meet every two
months to discuss Colorado River issues with an interstate
water policy commission, the Upper Colorado River Commission,
or UCRC. It’s the first time in the commission’s 76-year
history that tribes have been formally included, and the timing
is key as negotiations about the river’s future intensify.
… Most immediately, the commission wants a key number:
How much water goes unused by tribes and flows down to the
Lower Basin?
A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration
Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national
forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water.
“Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely
critical to any agricultural commodity production in the
American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a
letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31
members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for
several efforts related to water conservation, including
promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice
eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation
Reduction Act.
A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how
much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which
it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures
have fluctuated over time—crucial information for understanding
the planet’s water cycle and managing its freshwater supplies.
The results also highlight regions depleted by heavy water use,
including the Colorado River basin in the United States, the
Amazon basin in South America, and the Orange River basin in
southern Africa.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
A steady stream of water spilled from Lake Casitas Friday, a
few days after officials declared the Ojai Valley reservoir had
reached capacity for the first time in a quarter century. Just
two years earlier, the drought-stressed reservoir, which
provides drinking water for the Ojai
Valley and parts of Ventura, had dropped under 30%.
The Casitas Municipal Water District was looking at emergency
measures if conditions didn’t improve, board President Richard
Hajas said. Now, the lake is full, holding roughly 20 years of
water.
After nearly a century of people building dams on most of the
world’s major rivers, artificial reservoirs now represent an
immense freshwater footprint across the landscape. Yet, these
reservoirs are understudied and overlooked for their fisheries
production and management potential, indicates a study from the
University of California, Davis. The study, published
in the journal Scientific Reports, estimates that U.S.
reservoirs hold 3.5 billion kilograms (7.7 billion pounds) of
fish. Properly managed, these existing reservoir ecosystems
could play major roles in food security and fisheries
conservation.
California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help combat the
worsening climate crisis with one of its invaluable assets: its
land. Over the next 20 years, the state will work to transform
more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit
landscapes that can absorb more carbon than they release,
officials announced Monday. … The plan also calls for
11.9 million acres of forestland to be managed for biodiversity
protection, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045,
and 2.7 million acres of shrublands and chaparral to be managed
for carbon storage, resilience and habitat connectivity, among
other efforts.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended
Alternative 3 – Salmon Closure during the final days of the
Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) meeting mirroring
the opinions of commercial and recreational charter boat
anglers. The department’s position is a significant change from
early March. The PFMC meetings are being held in Seattle from
April 6 to 11, and the final recommendations of the council
will be forwarded to the California Fish and Game Commission in
May.
Sustaining the American Southwest is the Colorado River. But
demand, damming, diversion, and drought are draining this vital
water resource at alarming rates. The future of water in the
region – particularly from the Colorado River – was top of mind
at the 10th Annual Eccles Family Rural West Conference, an
event organized by the Bill Lane Center for the American West
that brings together policymakers, practitioners, and scholars
to discuss solutions to urgent problems facing rural Western
regions.
