A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation Writer Matt Jenkins.
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Floods have overwhelmed parts of the parched American Southwest
in recent days and weeks, pouring water into critically
low reservoirs. But the deluge did little to ease
worries over the water crisis that required significant limits
on usage across the Colorado River basin
earlier this year. Instead, it exemplified a sort of
weather whiplash that is becoming more common
as the climate warms, making it harder to maintain a
stable water supply for the West. Right after enduring
one of its driest stretches of spring and summer on record, the
Southwest is now experiencing one of its wettest
autumns. … [T]he wet weather could provide
some medium-term benefits. … The rain has saturated
soils across much of the Southwest, causing more precipitation
to run off rather than percolate into the ground. While that is
making the floods worse, it could also mean that more
of any precipitation that falls in the coming months will make
it into reservoirs.
Renewable energy companies and environmental groups have a long
history of joining forces to push for favorable government
policies. Then came the bipartisan bill to overhaul the
nation’s permitting rules. While groups representing
wind, solar, batteries and other renewable energy companies are
lobbying hard to get the landmark deal through Congress by the
end of the year, environmental groups are riven by the
bill’s potential to cut red tape for fossil fuel projects
alongside renewable ones. The break reflects not just
an ideological split, but an economic one. The renewables
industry is reaching maturity and argues it can compete on an
even playing field with fossil fuels. Renewable energy
companies, like their fossil fuel counterparts, would also find
it easier to build under the Bipartisan American Affordability
and Jobs Act’s rewrites of the National Environmental
Policy Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species
Act.
The Solano County Planning Commission on Thursday will consider
making a recommendation on a proposed zoning change affecting
1,312 acres of land east of Collinsville that California
Forever has proposed using for shipbuilding.
… It will consider making a recommendation to the Solano
County Board of Supervisors on a proposal to change the
property’s zoning from Exclusive Agriculture to
Industrial-Water Dependent. The proposed changewould bring the
property’s zoning into alignment with the county’s 2008 General
Plan,which designated the area for water-dependent industrial
development along the Sacramento River.
… The General Plan specifically designated the property
east of Collinsville for water-dependent industrial uses,
envisioning development along the Sacramento River
while protecting significant marshland, wetland habitats, and
water quality, according to the staff report.
“Cheap water is over.” That’s the quote from
Queen Creek Utilities Director Mark Skocypec at a recent town
meeting. It made it into The Washington Post, which recently
profiled the town and some of its residents who are not
exactly happy about a new water resource fee being debated in
the East Valley town. It’s part of a plan the town has
been working on to prepare for a drier future
for almost a decade. The idea is to buy water from the
Harquahala Valley, pump it out of the ground and
transport it via canal to the fast-growing suburb. But
it won’t come cheap, hence that quote from Mark Skocypec. The
Town Council is voting on the new fee later this
month, and I spoke with Skocypec more about Queen
Creek’s long-term future water plan and why he thinks they are
a model for other cities facing uncertain water futures.
Wild bees are helping guide Klamath River restoration,
providing pollen data that could shape planting in former
reservoirs after dam removal. … “Sometimes you can see them
carrying in leaves, grass hairs,” said [Brissa] Garcia, a
wildlife biologist with RES, the company charged with restoring
three former reservoirs along the Klamath River in Northern
California and Southern Oregon. … RES and the Yurok Tribe
have been planting billions of seeds and thousands of trees,
shrubs, and flowering plants in the reservoir footprints. One
goal is to support pollinators, which rely on nectar and pollen
for food. Now, wild bees are helping the restoration team tweak
their palette of native plants. … RES can compare the
information the bees are bringing in with weather data and
plant monitoring data. Over time, the pollen data could help
paint a more nuanced picture of what’s happening on the ground.
Throughout the winter, scientists will be using cosmic rays to
research soil and snowpack moisture levels at the Mullen Fire
burn scar. Colorado State University civil engineers are
working with a Cosmic Ray Neutron Rover to study ground
moisture in several scenarios, from dusty, rural roads to
wildfire recovery. This winter, researchers will evaluate snow
water equivalent, or the amount of liquid water content in the
snowpack in the Medicine Bow National Forest, working in an
area that suffered a catastrophic wildfire in September 2020
west and southwest of Laramie. The team will use the technology
at the Mullen Fire burn scar, utilizing the sensor to measure
hydrological changes and water content across large-scale
areas. … [R]esearchers hope to use the study to
determine how the 176,878-acre Mullen Fire altered snowpack,
soil moisture, and the connection between them.
The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board announced a
proposed settlement that would protect drinking water supplies
in South Lake Tahoe from a toxic groundwater plume linked to a
former dry-cleaning site. The proposed settlement would require
Seven Springs Limited Partnership and Fox Capital Management
Corporation, the former and current owners of the property, to
provide treatment for municipal drinking water wells and
address pollution affecting the Tahoe Valley South Subbasin for
a period of 59 years. The contamination, primarily from
tetrachloroethylene (PCE), originated from dry-cleaning
activities at the property between 1972 and 1979 that formed a
regional groundwater plume. The plume extended from the State
Route 89 and U.S. Route 50 junction toward the Tahoe Keys and
has contaminated wells used by two local drinking water
providers.
The San Juan River crested below historic levels officials had
feared, but flooding continued across southwestern Colorado on
Monday as saturated ground and additional rain heightened the
risk of more water inundating communities and roads. As of 6
a.m. Monday, the San Juan River stood about 16 feet,
which is above major flooding levels but below the levels
forecast Sunday. … With the ground already
saturated and infrastructure damaged by last week’s storm,
Sunday’s rain compounded flooding problems across the region.
… Rain is forecast to continue to fall Monday
and widespread flooding and washed-out roads will make
travel nearly impossible, the National Weather Service said.
The agency also warned of a high risk of landslides,
rockfalls and debris flows.
Kern County water managers and officials were left scratching
their heads after the California Governor’s Office of Emergency
Services (CalOES) refused to declare an
emergency due to golden mussels because
“…there is no identified long-term solution to eliminate or
control the continuation of the Golden Mussel
Invasion,” according to a letter from CalOES. Without
an emergency declaration, local water agencies aren’t eligible
for California Disaster Assistance Act funding to help defray
what’s conservatively estimated to be more than $36
million in annual costs to combat the invasive pest.
… Meanwhile, the best locals can do is tamp down
infestations within their own systems, which has become an
expensive ongoing game of Whac-a-Mole for some.
Microplastics are everywhere — including in Nevada’s snowpack.
After years of skiing on freshly fallen snow in remote
locations across the Sierra Nevada, Aleksandra Karapetrov — an
environmental toxicologist at the University of California,
Riverside — wondered how pristine the snow really
was. Over six months, Karapetrov and a team of University
of California, Riverside scientists tested fresh
snowfall at seven sites across the Sierra Nevada and found
something they did not expect: a steady delivery of tiny
plastic fibers, even in the most remote locations.
… The study, published this month in the journal
Environmental Science and Technology, found significant
amounts of microplastics in fresh snowfall at both remote and
populated sites across the Sierra Nevada, which
supplies about 60% of freshwater in northern Nevada.
Arizona is turning up the heat on a new federal plan for
managing the Colorado River. Major cutbacks are coming for the
state’s water supply. Top water officials say the cuts are
unfair and illegal. Now, they’re taking that argument to court.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources filed a motion to
intervene in Nevada’s lawsuit against the federal government.
The Central Arizona Project — which operates a 336-mile canal
system that carries Colorado River Water to the Phoenix and
Tucson areas — did the same less than two weeks later. …
Water law experts say this case will take a while to
play out, and reading between the lines of its
argument, states are propping the door open for a much
more consequential court battle some call the “nuclear
option.” So, what does the latest lawsuit do, what
doesn’t it do, and what does it mean for the future of
Arizona’s water?
The rivers in the sky hold the key. The
strength, location and duration of atmospheric rivers – ribbons
of water vapor that extend thousands of miles from the tropics
to the western United States – will be the deciding
factor in how much rain and snow falls in California this
winter, and whether a disastrous “ARkStorm” flood could
conceivably occur, experts told USA TODAY. … ”I
am concerned about this winter,” Daniel Swain, a climate
scientist with the University of California Agriculture and
Natural Resources, told USA TODAY. “Due to the very strong El
Niño, the risk of a severe ARkStorm-like flood resulting from
weeks of heavy precipitation is more likely in a year like this
one.” …The original ARkStorm scenario was developed in 2010
by scientists mostly from the U.S. Geological Survey, and
reflected the potential for a flood event of truly
biblical proportions.
California water regulators approved a sweeping, yet
controversial plan to manage the use of water in the state’s
rivers on Thursday, with the goal of halting the
ecological decline of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta. Known as the Bay Delta Plan, the
years-in-the-making policy lays out new terms for how much
river water can be taken for cities and farms, from the Bay
Area to Southern California, so enough is left to flow to
the delta, a vast estuary and water supply hub for 30
million people. The plan, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom,
is centered on a novel arrangement that has spurred endless
debate: Urban and agricultural water agencies can avoid the
strictest of water regulations by agreeing to help restore
overburdened rivers. The agreed-upon restoration work is seen
as a way to win buy-in for the plan while improving river
health, and ultimately the state of the delta.
Water managers throughout the San Joaquin Valley are closely
watching the latest groundwater twist in the Merced subbasin,
which could see the region headed back under the enforcement
thumb of the [State] Water Resources Control Board. Even
though Merced’s groundwater plan initially got the green light
from the Department of Water Resources in 2023,
subsidence still isn’t being dealt with to the state’s
liking. Consequently, the subbasin’s plan got an
“incomplete” rating on a recent five-year
review. That’s just one step away from “inadequate,” which
would send it back to the Water Board and possible
probation, which comes with a host of fees and
reporting requirements. Merced’s three groundwater
sustainability agencies (GSAs) have 180 days to address
deficiencies outlined in an Oct. 8 letter from the
DWR.
The Karuk Tribe is urging California’s U.S. Senators to oppose
legislation that would make changes to federal permitting,
historic preservation protections, and environmental review
requirements. The legislation, known as the Bipartisan American
Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, or S. 5653, would make
broad changes thattribal organizations, including the Karuk
Tribe, say would alter the way federal agencies assess the
impacts of projects on tribal cultural sites and historic
properties, change water quality certification requirements,
extend the term of pollution permits, and alter certain aspects
of the endangered species review. … [Karuk Tribes natural
resources policy consultant Craig] Tucker said several
provisions the bill targets relate to the laws tribes and
environmental groups relied on during the Klamath dam removal
process. … [Karuk Vice Chair Kenneth] Brink said
weakening those authorities could make similar outcomes more
difficult to achieve in the future.
… [T]he Los Angeles Department of Water and Power continues
to divert water from the Mono Basin, even after the city has
pledged to source 70% of its water locally by 2035 and is in
the process of building up expansive resources to recycle
water. … Now, the Mono Lake Committee is petitioning
California water authorities to stop Los Angeles from taking
any water from the Mono Basin at all. They argue that if Los
Angeles stops diverting water, more water would go back to Mono
Lake faster. … The movement to save Mono Lake is
rekindling, preparing to fight big city interests once more at
an upcoming hearing held by the California State Water
Resources Control Board. At the heart of the contentious,
ongoing clash is a similar question to the one David [Gaines,
founder of the Mono Lake Committee] asked 50 years ago: Can we
sustain the natural resources that prop up the biggest cities
in the West? Or will climate change force us to choose?
A Marin County neighborhood with a deteriorating coastal
barrier is already feeling the impacts of king tides and
coastal flooding sweeping into the Bay Area this
week. … The North Bay started to feel the effects
earlier this week when flooded roadways stranded a driver in
Mill Valley, and now officials are focusing on a deteriorating
2-mile levee protecting 700 homes in an unincorporated
community of San Rafael. … Bordering Gallinas Creek near
where it empties into San Francisco Bay, the neighborhood was
originally built as a luxury canal development modeled after
Venice, Italy. … In September, the Marin County
Flood Control District submitted an additional environmental
review for the proposed Santa Venetia floodwall — a massive
upgrade to replace the current levee system. It has also asked
property owners to consider donating an easement so it can use
their property to “construct, inspect, maintain, repair or
replace flood protection infrastructure.”
Ocean waters off Long Beach were closed to swimmers Saturday
after a sewer main break, and it’s unclear when the water will
be considered safe to enter. … About 29,000 gallons of
sewage was discharged near Livingston Drive and 2nd Street
beginning around 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Long Beach Utilities
Department reported. The spill was caused by a break in a
“force main,” a pressurized pipe used to convey wastewater
across flat or upward terrain. Long Beach Utilities rerouted
the sewage flow with a bypass line and called in emergency
contractor Ocean Blue to assist with spill cleanup efforts. Of
the 29,000-gallon total spill volume, 15,000 gallons of sewage
was recovered, and 14,000 gallons was discharged to the ocean,
the city said. Repairs on the broken pipe are underway.
… [T]here truly is a Drowned California – underwater remains
of villages, towns, sacred sites, burial areas, roads, bridges,
train tunnels, and more flooded by dams and other waterworks
throughout California’s long history of controlling water
flows. … The removal of dams along the Klamath River
exposed previously flooded places like the Shasta Villages that
were once under Copco Lake (Alexander, 2024), while the
proposed Sites Reservoir will flood new areas including the
town of Sites and cultural sites and burial areas of the
Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians, Paskenta
Band of Nomlaki Indians, Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun, Kletsel
Dehe Wintun Nation, and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (Sites
Project Authority & U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2023). Along
with environmental and ecological damages, the tremendous
changes dams bring to the local areas, towns, and tribes are
astounding.
… A controversial plan that dramatically changes how the
state governs the pumping of water out of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — the heart
of the state water system — was adopted by California
regulators late Thursday after two days of debate involving
more than 200 people. The plan adopted by the five-member State
Water Resources Control Board breaks from the
traditional approach of requiring all water agencies to limit
pumping to maintain required minimum levels of water
in rivers and the estuary. Instead, it allows
agencies the option of negotiated deals in
which they commit to ensuring certain river flows for the
environment and contribute funds for projects that restore
habitat for fish in the Delta.
