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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Los Osos could end its building moratorium by the end of the
year and see new construction for the first time in decades
under a plan led by the California Coastal Commission and San
Luis Obispo County. The proposal could eventually bring 1%
residential growth to a community that has been under a
building ban since 1988. The history of Los Osos’
moratorium began with the septic tank discharge prohibition
issued by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board in 1983. That agency found that the town’s 5,000 septic
tanks were sending millions of gallons of effluent down the
drain and into both the groundwater and the bay. The county
then carried out a multi-decade struggle to site and fund a new
water treatment plant, finally launched in 2012 and put into
service in 2016.
California has prided itself on its bold leadership on climate
change. In the past twenty years, it has made unprecedented
commitments and investments to reduce emissions and build
climate resilience. Unfortunately, amid a dire state budget
crisis, California leaders are struggling to ensure that the
state will continue its leadership in meeting the challenge of
climate change. Immediate and large-scale climate action is
essential to protect people and birds. Audubon’s Survival by
Degrees report found that 389 species of North American birds
are likely to see significant population declines due to
climate change if global temperature increased beyond 3 degrees
Celsius, which now seems almost unavoidable. As the world’s
fifth largest economy and a global leader on climate policy,
California’s climate action will have direct impacts on birds
and their habitats well beyond the state’s borders.
California’s agriculture agency has released a concept paper
proposing ways to streamline ag-related food safety and water
quality reporting requirements. The paper is part of a
regulatory alignment study led by the state Department of Food
and Agriculture in coordination with the California
Environmental Protection Agency and the State Water Resources
Control Board. Officials said the objective is to reduce
paperwork for farmers and ranchers. Informed by a broad range
of interviews and feedback, the proposals presented in the
concept paper serve as a foundation and are not final
recommendations.
A collision of climate change, urban sprawl and poor
infrastructure has pushed Mexico City to the brink of a
profound water crisis. The groundwater is quickly vanishing. A
key reservoir got so low that it is no longer used to supply
water. Last year was Mexico’s hottest and driest in at least 70
years. And one of the city’s main water systems faces a
potential “Day Zero” this summer when levels dip so much that
it, too, will no longer provide water.
Stranded for nearly three weeks by record flooding in southern
Brazil, one tiny Indigenous community is determined not to
evacuate what they consider sacred ancestral lands that are in
dispute with real estate developers. The Mbya Guarani people
have been living since 2018 on a peninsula in far southern
Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The
community has long been at odds with Arado Empreendimentos
Imobiliarios, the firm that has been planning a residential
development on nearly 426 hectares (1,053 acres) in the area
for over a decade, part of which is in dispute. Heavy
rains have battered Rio Grande do Sul since late April, causing
historic floods that have killed over 160 people, while nearly
100 residents are still missing and more than 500,000 have been
displaced. Even with the devastating floods,
community leaders say they would not consider leaving.
Ingesting fluoride is favored to be a personal choice when it
comes to drinking water for Oroville City Councilors. The
matter of removing fluoride from city drinking water was before
councilors in a public hearing Tuesday, revisiting an issue
that Oroville citizens once fought hard to support in the
1950s. Cal Water local manager Loni Lind said the utility will
continue fluoridate as long as it’s required to. While Cal
Water has met this obligation since 1957, customers regularly
express concern for removing fluoride from the water supply,
Lind said. Lind said fluoride is much more expensive to
remove from water than it is to add it; and that Oroville is
the only city in Butte County fluoridating its water — though
Chico has applied for public funds to add fluoride to its water
supply.
Scientists have urged expectant mothers to avoid drinking
unfiltered tap water after finding a link between fluoride
exposure and disruptions to fetal brain development [according
to a new study by the University of Southern California's Keck
School of Medicine]. Since 1962, the United States Public
Health Service (USPHS) has recommended that public water
supplies contain fluoride to help prevent tooth decay. Today,
roughly 3 in 4 Americans receive fluoride-fortified water,
which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
says have reduced dental carries in children and adults by
roughly 25 percent. Both the CDC and USPHS say that
fluoride consumption at the levels set by the U.S.
government—2.0 mg per liter of water—is safe. However, others
have raised concerns about the potential health impacts of this
fluoride exposure, even at low levels, especially for a
developing fetus.
A House Natural Resources subcommittee will consider how to
shore up operations of major Western waterways, including the
Colorado and Klamath river basins. The Subcommittee on Water,
Wildlife and Fisheries will meet Wednesday to review four bills
targeting infrastructure and hydropower. Lawmakers will discuss
Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee’s H.R. 7776, the “Help Hoover
Dam Act,” which would provide an additional $45 million in
operating funds for the nation’s second tallest dam.
California wildfires aren’t the only thing killing the state’s
majestic giant sequoia trees. So is a little-known bark beetle.
Researchers in the Sierra Nevada, the only place where the
giant sequoia naturally grows, have found several of the
world’s largest trees unexpectedly infested with beetles, some
dying from the attacks. While the mortality numbers are small,
especially when compared to the toll of the wildfires that
wiped out as many as 20% of all mature sequoias in 2020 and
2021, the emergence of another lethal threat to the
titans — this one also tied to the warming climate —
is hugely worrisome. That’s why research teams at Sequoia
and Kings Canyon National Parks are climbing into the towering
canopy of the Giant Forest this week and assessing the
condition of the biggest tree on Earth, the 275-foot General
Sherman Tree.
The Biden administration is moving forward with new permitting
guidance to curb pollution that moves through groundwater in
response to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. In a decision
praised by environmental advocates, the high court ruled in
2020 that wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities
must obtain federal permits for groundwater pollution that
affects major bodies of water. Since then, however, questions
have emerged over how to interpret and apply the ruling, which
said that permits are necessary if groundwater pollution has
the “functional equivalent” of directly contaminating a lake,
river or other surface water. The Trump administration issued
its own interpretation of the ruling in January 2021, which EPA
under President Joe Biden scrapped months later.
Cyberattacks against water utilities across the country are
becoming more frequent and more severe, the Environmental
Protection Agency warned Monday as it issued an enforcement
alert urging water systems to take immediate actions to protect
the nation’s drinking water. About 70% of utilities inspected
by federal officials over the last year violated standards
meant to prevent breaches or other intrusions, the agency said.
Officials urged even small water systems to improve protections
against hacks. Recent cyberattacks by groups affiliated with
Russia and Iran have targeted smaller communities. Some water
systems are falling short in basic ways, the alert said,
including failure to change default passwords or cut off system
access to former employees.
Cassandra Sutcliffe has been using her inhaler more often to
treat her chronic bronchitis. She lives on an oceanfront
property in Imperial Beach, one of the southernmost
communities impacted by sewage and toxic chemicals that spill
over the U.S.-Mexico border. “The smell makes your eyes
water and your throat close up,” said Sutcliffe, one of many
residents who have reported having similar symptoms and who say
they find relief when they leave town. “I was told by (my
doctor) that the environment could be the contributing factor
(to) my failing health.” … A newly formed task force,
spearheaded by Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and
comprised of San Diego researchers and physicians, aims to
change that. The group has yet to decide on its formal name,
but it does have an end game.
Pictures taken from a NASA satellite earlier this month show a
big difference in the water level at Shasta Lake from just two
years ago. According to NASA, the older photo shows the lake at
around 40% capacity, the low water level leaving a bright
outline around California’s biggest reservoir. The more recent
aerial photo shows the lake as it is approaching full
capacity. As of May 20, Shasta Lake is at 97% of its
4,552,000 acre-feet capacity, about 15% above average for this
time of year. The lake was similarly full last year at about
98% of capacity on May 29, 2023. California’s second-biggest
reservoir, Lake Oroville, is currently at 100% capacity, 27%
fuller than average.
Demolition of three dams on the Klamath River is currently
underway, as the drawdown phase that emptied massive reservoirs
wrapped up. This month, crews started taking out Iron Gate and
J.C. Boyle. “Frankly, we can see the end of the dams in sight,
literally, as they’re coming down so quickly.” said Mark
Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation reached
by phone Friday. Deconstruction of the earthen part of J.C.
Boyle, a 68-foot-tall concrete and earth fill dam in Southern
Oregon, began last week on Monday. The removal of Iron Gate
began May 1, the largest dam out of the bunch at 173 feet tall.
Thursday, a dynamite blast on Copco No. 1 took off about 30
feet of the dam — removal of which started in March as the
concrete structure allowed for any spring flows to pass over
the top.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration – acting under its Food
Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), as amended, 21 U.S.C. §
2201 et seq., to address the safety of all FMSA-covered
produce other than sprouts (Covered Produce) – on May 6, 2024,
issued a final rule that amended its 2015 rule on the
safety of produce. With certain exceptions for
growers of Covered Produce, the FDA’s new rule
requires pre-harvest agricultural water
assessments for hazard identification and risk management
decision-making purposes. Requirements for harvest and
post-harvest use of agricultural water have not changed.
The FDA regulated sprouts specifically in an earlier
pre-harvest agricultural water regulation that remains
applicable to that produce.
Dos Palos residents will have a more reliable water source when
its failing water treatment facility is replaced next year,
thanks to a $45 million state grant. The State Water Resources
Control Board announced last Monday that a new plant with two
filtration systems will treat water piped in from the
California Aqueduct, which is more than 20 miles away. The
plant will treat approximately 4 million gallons of surface
water per day. “It’s good news that Dos Palos is getting
underway with construction of such a big project to serve safe
water to such a big population,” said Chad Fischer, section
supervising engineer with the state-run Safe and Affordable
Funding for Equity and Resilience.
Should levees holding back the San Joaquin River fail in a
200-year flood event, Manteca would face a citywide health
emergency. That’s because flood waters would inundate the
city’s wastewater treatment plant that is located west of
Airport Way in the 200-year floodplain. It is one of 32
city-owned parcels in the 200-year floodplain subject. It
is one reason when the council meets tonight at 6 p.m. they are
expected to authorize City Manager Toni Lungren to cast ballots
in favor of a 30-year assessment to pay for the city’s
share of $467 million in upgrades needed to protect
against 200 year flooding. Manteca Unified has 39 parcels in
Lathrop, the Weston Ranch area of Stockton, French Camp, and
parts of eastern Manteca that are within the 200-year
floodplain.
Dozens of Alaska’s most remote streams and rivers are turning
from a crystal clear blue into a cloudy orange, and the
staining could be the result of minerals exposed by thawing
permafrost, new research in the Nature journal Communications:
Earth and Environment finds. For the first time, a team of
researchers from the National Park Service, U.S. Geological
Survey, the University of California, Davis, and other
institutions have documented and sampled some of the impaired
waters, pinpointing 75 locations across a Texas-sized area of
northern Alaska’s Brooks Range. These degraded rivers and
streams could have significant implications for drinking water
and fisheries in Arctic watersheds as the climate changes, the
researchers said.
At its recent Countywide Plenary for Water, El Dorado Water
Agency (EDWA) brought together water and utility managers,
business and community leaders, non-profit organizations, and
staff from local, state, and federal agencies to collaborate on
sustainably managing our watershed. Rebecca Guo, General
Manager of EDWA, kicked off the Plenary by highlighting the
Programmatic Watershed Plan which identified resource
management strategies to address watershed threats as well as a
new report on the valuation of ecosystem goods and services in
the upper American River watershed. The valuation report found
that the working landscapes (including working and natural
lands) within the watershed are an incredibly valuable asset
worth more than $1.6 trillion over a 100 year period.
Pronounced “He La,” the Gila Rivers’ headwaters originate in
New Mexico, where it is a wild and scenic mountain river. The
path of the Gila settles into broad valleys as it enters
Arizona, providing water for rural towns and agriculture along
the way. The Gila’s flow is interrupted by Coolidge Dam and San
Carlos Reservoir on the San Carlos Indian Reservation west of
Safford, Arizona. Water from the reservoir is managed by the
San Carlos Irrigation District for communities, farms, and
ranches downstream. The Ashurst-Hayden and Florence diversion
dams in Pinal County send what remains of the Gila River water
to Central Arizona farms, after which the river is a dry
channel except when there are high flows from rain and snow
melt. The combination of dams, diversions, and
drought earned the Gila River the title of Most Endangered
River in 2019 from American Rivers, a nonprofit advocacy
organization.
