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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PPIC Water Policy Center senior fellow Ellen Hanak testified at
the Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform on October
16, 2024. Here are her prepared remarks. … During our
many discussions with stakeholders over the years, one
consistent theme has emerged: the time and cost of permitting
to undertake water projects both large and small. … While
each individual permitting requirement was introduced to meet a
well-intended policy goal, the cumulative effect can be
daunting, causing years of delay and escalating costs, and even
outright preventing actions that would serve the greater good.
In short, permitting challenges are keeping us from taking
timely action to build water system resiliency, while
increasing affordability challenges.
With the snip of a ribbon Tuesday, Colorado water managers
officially opened a new waterway in Grand County that
reconnects a stretch of the Colorado River for the first time
in four decades to help fish and aquatic life. The milelong
waterway, called the Colorado River Connectivity Channel,
skirts around Windy Gap Reservoir, where a dam has broken the
natural flow of the river since 1985. The $33 million project’s
goal is to return a stretch of the river to its former health,
a river where aquatic life thrived and fish could migrate and
spawn. But getting to the dedication ceremony Tuesday took
years of negotiations that turned enemies into collaborators
and can serve as a model for future water projects, officials
say.
Like many states, California is facing a growing number of
climate-related extremes: The annual acreage scorched by
wildfires in the state increased fivefold between 1972 and
2018, and burns are also growing more intense. In addition,
excessive rain is increasing flooding, landslides, and erosion,
which can devastate terrain already reeling from fire damage.
Large amounts of soil are prone to eroding after a wildfire,
especially if heavy rainfall occurs within a year of the
burn. Dow et al. studied 196 fires that occurred
between 1984 and 2021 and found that postfire sediment erosion
increased statewide during this period. They used a combination
of postfire hillslope erosion modeling and measurements of
debris flow volume from both real and modeled events.
Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and
landslides are commonly prefaced by the phrase, “not if, but
when.” This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable
thanks to researchers at UC Santa Cruz and The University of
Texas at Austin, who found that conditions known to cause slip
along fault lines deep underground also lead to landslides
above. The new study, led by UC Santa Cruz geologist Noah
Finnegan, used detailed data from two landslide sites in
Northern California that researchers have identified and
closely monitored for years. Finnegan and his co-author then
applied a model originally developed to explain slow fault slip
and eventually landed on a striking result: The model worked
just as well for landslides as it did for faults. The finding
is an important breakthrough suggesting that a model designed
for faults can also be used to predict landslide behavior. And
in California, where slow-moving slides are constant and cost
hundreds of millions of dollars annually, this represents a
major step forward in the ability to predict landslide
movements—particularly in response to environmental factors
like changes in groundwater levels.
A coalition of water users, businesses and conservation
organizations filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Utah’s 7th District
Court, seeking to overturn a water permit given to an
Australian mining company that seeks to extract lithium from
groundwater in theGreen River. Living Rivers and Great Basin
Water Network say they have been working with community members
in Green River for more than a year to ensure that groundwater,
surface water, ecosystems, farms and residents face no harm
from Anson Resource’s project proposed for the banks of the
Green River. The coalition’s filing targets a recent decision
by the Utah State Engineer to approve a water rights
application for the novel lithium mining operation along the
Colorado River’s largest tributary.
Nearly 40% of Arizona’s water comes from the Colorado River.
But that could drastically change in the coming years. What
happens next is a key question for the Central Arizona Water
Conservation District and a key question driving its November
5th election. CAWCD candidates explain the fight over the
Colorado River during an Oct. 8, 2024 Arizona Republic
forum.
The 30-acre pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta has been in Brett Baker’s family since the end of the
Gold Rush. After six generations, though, California’s most
precious resource is no longer gold – it’s water. And most of
the state’s freshwater is in the delta. Landowners there
are required to report their water use, but methods for
monitoring were expensive and inaccurate. Recently, however, a
platform called OpenET, created by NASA, the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), and other partners, has introduced the ability
to calculate the total amount of water transferred from the
surface to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. This is a
key measure of the water that’s actually being removed from a
local water system. It’s calculated based on imagery from
Landsat and other satellites. “It’s good public
policy to start with a measure everyone can agree upon,” Baker
said.
For Pasadena native John T. Morris, the practical majesty and
history of the Morris Dam runs close to home, as his
grandfather was its lead engineer. “He was the founding general
manager of the Pasadena Water Department and chief engineer,”
Morris said of his grandfather, Samuel Brooks Morris. “He
started in the mid-1920s, planning for the Pine Canyon Dam
because he knew we would have to have a place to store water.”
Dedicated in May of 1934 by former President Herbert Hoover, a
personal friend, it became known as the Morris Dam, situated in
the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa. Marking its 90th
anniversary, and celebrating its unique role and progressive
design, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will
officially recognize it as a National Historical Civil
Engineering Landmark, Wednesday, Oct. 16.
After ten years of rapidly intensifying drought and extreme
weather, California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched the
state’s first strategy to restore and protect populations of
salmon for generations to come. Salmon are described as being
central to religions, creation stories, the health and
subsistence of California’s Native Tribes, plus a
multi-million-dollar fishing industry. However, historic
crashing salmon populations led to the Newsom Administration
requesting a Federal Fishery Disaster to support impacted
communities at the end of 2023, with Tribes having to cancel
their religious and cultural harvests for the first time ever.
Poway’s average residential customers could see a nearly $33
bimonthly increase on their water bill next spring. The city
has planned for 6 percent annual water rate increases since
January 2022. The increases are considered adjustments for rate
increases by the city’s water supplier, San Diego County Water
Authority (SDCWA). On Jan. 1, 2025 customers will see an
increase of $23.51 to their bimonthly billing period. Also
starting Jan. 1, an additional $9.32 charge could be added if
the City Council approves another 3 percent adjustment on the
bimonthly water bills. Actual bill amounts will vary based on
the amount of water households consume.
County, state, and federal officials held Wednesday morning a
groundbreaking ceremony near this unincorporated town for the
$11.7 million Niland Sanitation District Wastewater Treatment
Plant and Collection System Improvements Project. “The county
today conducted a groundbreaking ceremony on the much expected
Niland wastewater treatment plant,” Imperial County Executive
Officer Miguel Figueroa said in an interview. “This plant will
not only help us serve better the community of Niland, but also
grow and expand future capacity needs as Niland and its region
grows, obviously considering renewable energy development
coming down.” According to the county official, the wastewater
treatment plant will help better serve local residents and the
future growth of the Lithium Valley and the additional
expansion of the geothermal energy plants.
California and Biden administration officials on Tuesday
announced new ecosystem restoration plans for the dwindling
Salton Sea, where conservation efforts aim to improve regional
air quality and support wildlife. … As the restoration
project proceeds, state officials said that they aim to revive
the region’s ecological value by creating networks of ponds and
wetlands, providing habitats for fish and birds and suppressing
dust within the area. The Salton Sea is one of many salty lakes
around the world that has been stirring up dust and worsening
air pollution as it dries up.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on Oct. 16 that
environmentalists say could weaken the Clean Water Act.
Surprisingly, it originates from what many consider one of the
greenest cities in the nation: San Francisco. In City and
County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, San
Francisco is suing the EPA over what it calls unclear
restrictions on the quantity of untreated sewage that can be
released into local waterways. San Francisco has argued that it
cannot control the water quality in the ocean or the Bay and
that being held accountable for it leaves the city vulnerable
to unpredictable fines. The city and county are requesting the
Supreme Court uphold the Clean Water Act, the 1972 law that
governs water pollution, and ensure the EPA issues permits with
clear instructions to prevent water pollution.
Top Biden administration officials are vowing to consider a
wide array of proposals to ensure the future of water supplies
of the Colorado River Basin, while touting recent emergency
efforts to address shortfalls on the drought-ravaged waterway.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton co-authored an op-ed
published Sunday in the Arizona Republic, as the Biden
administration considers new long-term operating plans for the
Colorado River. “We are harnessing the best available
science to create robust and adaptive guidelines that can
withstand the impacts of ongoing drought and a changing
climate,” Haaland and Touton wrote. “Every viable option is
being explored as we seek solutions that address the diverse
needs of all that depend on the basin.”
… Evaporation is the natural process of liquid water turning
into water vapor. As Colorado and Western states heat up, more
water evaporates into the atmosphere, leaving less for
irrigation and drinking water supplies. It’s a vicious feedback
loop: Warmer, drier air triggers more evaporation, which
creates warmer air, and so on. Evaporation is a big deal
because it eats into our declining water supply, at a time when
the entire West is in a record mega-drought. The problem
is that the tools historically used to measure evaporation are
stuck in the 1900s. “Better understanding [evaporation] as
a whole, and how it varies in time and space, is a key need on
the Colorado,” said the Desert Research Institute’s Chris
Pearson, who studies high-tech techniques to measure
evaporation.
Fall is in full swing, but it’s not too soon to look ahead to
winter, especially one that could feel considerably different
than last year’s dominated by El Niño. A weak La Niña is
expected to develop ahead of the season and influence
temperatures, precipitation, and by extension, even snow across
the United States. La Niña is a natural climate pattern that
influences global weather marked by cooler than average ocean
temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The effects on weather
are most pronounced during the winter months in the Northern
Hemisphere and have a much weaker influence in the summer.
Decades of neglect by a French company operating a federally
funded wastewater treatment plant on the U.S.-Mexico border has
led to billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals in the
Tijuana River, according to nearby residents who in a lawsuit
decried the serious ecological and human health devastation.
The plant is supposed to treat wastewater from Tijuana and then
dump it into the Pacific Ocean at Imperial Beach, California.
But according to the residents, [Veolia Water West Operating
Services has by virtue of ] misconduct, reckless behavior and
negligence — including not investing in or maintaining the
sewage plant’s infrastructure — discharged fecal bacteria,
heavy metals and chemicals banned in the U.S. like DDT,
benzidine, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the
Tijuana River.
Governor Gavin Newsom today highlighted a $3.5 million federal
investment to improve access to the San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument and enhance a key Southern California water
source that provides Los Angeles County with one-third of its
water supply. Federal, state, tribal and local partners
celebrated the announcement today [Oct. 15], which will support
trash removal projects, create new walking trails and install
additional restrooms on this popular stretch of the San Gabriel
River used primarily for recreation by surrounding underserved
communities.
… Desert Center is nearly perfect for solar energy projects.
When the nation began looking to transition away from the
fossil fuels driving climate change, nearly half of the federal
lands currently designated as areas for solar development were
found in the Riverside East area Carrington and the
neighborhood group he helps lead—the Active Community of Desert
Center—call home. … The goal, federal officials, developers
and environmentalists say of the planning, is to avoid
conflict. But Desert Center shows how such tensions are
almost impossible to avoid. … As the solar farms kept
coming, the locals, many of whom never knew the area around
them had been designated for solar, began to push back. The
development had eaten away at the desert they love, impacting
desert tortoise habitat, and would now surround their community
on three sides. The dust from the construction posed health
concerns, and keeping it down with groundwater led
local wells to run dry —something federal
regulators approving the projects knew for years could
happen.
We spoke to graduate student researcher Kelsey Kim about her
work on the groundbreaking “Gender and Everyday Household Water
Use in Los Angeles” report. The innovative study set out to
examine the often-overlooked intersections of gender, race,
class, and migration in shaping water use patterns across
diverse Los Angeles neighborhoods. Through in-depth interviews,
household observations, and creative water diaries, Kim and her
team aimed to uncover how day-to-day realities and household
activities reflect gendered labor, broader social dynamics, and
challenge conventional understandings of urban water
management.
