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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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
… [C]entral Arizona cities are charting a course through a
future with less Colorado River water. Water managers across
the Phoenix metro say they have robust backup plans in
place to keep taps flowing, thanks to years of
preparation and huge construction projects. Those upgrades,
though, come with a big price tag, and will
carry the area into a future that is still rife with
uncertainty. … The very fact that Phoenix and its
neighbors can receive water from the Colorado River is a feat
of engineering. The canal system that carries it from western
Arizona is a gravity-defying product of 1960s optimism and more
than $4 billion in building costs. Soon, with less water in
that canal, it will take more feats of engineering to survive.
The steep costs of those projects will likely be passed along
to residents.
California Senate Republicans are urging Governor Gavin Newsom
to veto legislation concerning how water districts
calculate tiered water rates, saying the measure could
affect the application of Proposition 218.
Assembly Bill 2180, authored by Assemblymember Shirley Weber,
D-San Diego, was the subject of a letter from Senate
Republicans asking Newsom to reject the bill. The legislation
comes as the California Supreme Court considers a case
involving tiered water rates charged by water
agencies. The case, Dreher v. City of Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power, concerns whether water districts
are complying with legal requirements governing tiered water
rates. Senator Steven Choi, R-Irvine, said Proposition 218,
approved by California voters in 1996, was intended to provide
protections for property owners and ratepayers from certain
government-imposed fees and charges.
As fights about data centers erupt nationwide, California
lawmakers have approved a pair of bills to make data center
developers disclose how much water they really
use. The bills are a new test of whether
California will set limits on an industry that’s becoming a
flashpoint over water, electricity and the environmental
consequences of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers on
Monday cleared Assembly Bill 2469 by Assemblymember Diane
Papan, a Democrat from San Mateo. The bill bars local
governments from approving new or expanded data centers
unless the developer discloses its water plans and
covers the full cost of any new water pipes, treatment or
storage for the facility. … It’s almost
identical to a bill Papan authored last year, which Newsom
vetoed amid pressure from the tech industry.
After decades of pollution and years of beach closures caused
by raw sewage in the Tijuana River, San Diego County
Supervisors are pursuing a local plan to divert the
river and treat it directly. They’re calling for the
county to design a new treatment plant to capture and
clean contaminated water before it enters San Diego
communities, using potential local tax revenue to back
nearly a billion dollars worth of bonds to build it.
… The supervisors called for spending $1.8 million to
design a system to divert and treat the river water. They also
proposed $4 million to immediately fix a sewage hot spot on
Saturn Boulevard, where river pollution becomes aerosolized.
The board will vote on the plan Tuesday.
A deadly flash flood in the Grand Canyon over the weekend was
probably driven by a confluence of climate factors,
including drought, wildfire scarring and warming temperatures
in the Pacific Ocean that can supercharge storms. At
least two people have died, nearly 80 people were rescued and
one remained unaccounted for after a surge of water and debris
swept through the immensely popular tourist destination on
Saturday. … Along with the potential impact from a
previous fire, a severe drought that continues
to affect the Grand Canyon region – and the Colorado
River basin that runs through it – could have
contributed to the disaster. The deluge unleashed torrents of
rain on hardened and sparsely vegetated steep terrain that is
less able to absorb and contain abrupt increases in moisture.
A new study from the Center for Western Weather and Water
Extremes (CW3E) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC
San Diego finds that improved weather and water forecasts could
help California gain more value from existing reservoirs and
help meet a new water supply target. The study, led by Scripps
economist Tom Corringham and staff researcher Denali Pinto,
estimates that a reservoir operation system co-led by Scripps,
state, federal and local water authorities could save the state
between $100 million and $200 million per year in the form of
added water available to meet agricultural, urban and household
needs. Corringham said that ripple effects ranging from
recreation enhancements to recreation, power generation,
enriched fishery stocks, and improved flood risk management
make that a conservative estimate.
A tropical storm is forming off the coast of Baja California, a
system that national forecasters say has a virtually
nonexistent chance of intensifying into a hurricane. The
National Hurricane Center is predicting a 90% chance of a
tropical storm forming in the Baja California area within the
next 48 hours and within the next seven days. The storm
brewing off the Baja coast is fueled in part by the
very strong El Niño, a natural climate pattern
that is gaining momentum and warming sea surface temperatures
in the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures off the coast of San
Diego are about 8 degrees above the average for this time of
year, according to the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC
Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the warming of the
eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is one consequence of
human-caused climate change.
Three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed Imperial
County’s “Lithium Valley” to be a game-changer for
California’s economy and alternative energy transition, little
has changed. The southern end of the Salton Sea contains rich
sources of lithium, a mineral used for electric car batteries,
cellphones and other electronics. … But lithium resources
remain untapped, as plans to mine them falter amid legal
challenges and funding problems. The Hell’s Kitchen project by
Controlled Thermal Resources has been delayed by lawsuits
arguing that the company neglected to address its environmental
impacts. Last month an appeals court sent the environmental
review back to Imperial County to correct deficiencies
regarding water and air quality effects.
Lawmakers this week made good on a year-old promise, passing a
bill to narrow a controversial exemption from California’s
environmental review law. The proposal passed both houses of
the Legislature and now goes to the governor’s
desk. Senate Bill 954 follows through on a pledge state
legislative leaders made last year, when Gov. Gavin Newsom
threatened to withhold approval of a $300 billion spending plan
unless lawmakers passed sweeping changes to the California
Environmental Quality Act. Lawmakers complied by passing
Senate Bill 131, which exempted “advanced manufacturing
facilities” from environmental review. But more than 30
lawmakers objected to how broad that exemption could be,
because it could increase pollution in already vulnerable
communities. They pledged to narrow it this year.
It may sound simple, but water doesn’t burn. That’s the opening
line of a recent federal report on the promise of process-based
restoration — or PBR — for wildland firefighters, who are
increasingly turning to the practice to aid their suppression
and prescribed fire efforts. There are a number of PBR
techniques used to restore rivers and streams, but their common
effects are raising water tables and increasing soil moisture.
Those changes come with a number of ecological benefits, like
improving habitats for fish and elk. But they can also aid
firefighters when trying to suppress blazes, as well as making
ecosystems more resilient to wildfires when they come and
better able to recover in their wake.
California’s State Water Resources Control Board is preparing
to select the next deputy director of its Division of Drinking
Water. The choice deserves far more attention than a routine
executive appointment. The person who replaces Darrin Polhemus,
who is retiring at the end of August, will have a major role in
deciding how California protects the drinking water systems
that serve tens of millions of people. That includes deciding
which risks deserve immediate attention, where regulatory
resources should be focused, and how the state responds when
public health goals run up against aging infrastructure,
limited resources, and the cost of new requirements. –Written by Roy L. Wolfe, former board chair of the Water
Research Foundation and former executive at the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California.
After weeks of intense negotiation, state lawmakers on Friday
reached a compromise on legislation to regulate energy use by
California’s growing data center industry, action triggered by
community anger over the facilities and fears of high utility
bills in some communities. The goal, according to legislators
and advocates, is to protect consumers from growing electricity
costs driven upward by the sprawling facilities and to
track the centers’ immense energy and water
consumption. … Separate bills that would
require the centers to disclose their energy and water
use were recently approved by state lawmakers.
The U.S. government needs to launch a massive federal public
works program to build more infrastructure to help Arizona and
other Southwestern states cope with impending Colorado River
water cutbacks, said U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego and Tucson Mayor
Regina Romero. “We’re going to have to have a massive
government works program like what created the CAP, to help
towns update their water systems … to create and conserve
water, to make up for the loss we are going to end up
taking,” Gallego said Friday at a “Water Summit” panel
discussion in Tucson. He was talking about the
construction of the 330-mile-long Central Arizona Project canal
system that delivers drinking and irrigation water to the
Tucson and Phoenix areas.
Kern County has collected $4,076,000 from oil permits issued
since the start of the year as part of its strategy to
help disadvantaged communities with failing water
systems. But it can only actually spend $9,592 of
that, so far. That’s because, until oil companies begin the
drilling process– known as spudding in – the $9,732 water fee
charged as part of county permits doesn’t technically belong to
the county, explained Planning Director Craig
Murphy. “It’s held in trust while the oil company works to
get its permits from CalGEM (California Geologic Energy
Management), and then get all its equipment, financing and
people in place,” Murphy said. “Once they notify the county
that they’re activating the permit, that triggers the
money to be transferred into the Disadvantaged Communities
Water Relief Fund.”
Farmers have relied on plastic since the 1960s, when the mass
production of affordable agricultural tools derived from
petrochemicals made them widely accessible. Plastic
mulch quickly became a cornerstone of crop production.
… [S]cientists and policymakers are struggling to preserve
the benefits of farmers’ dependence on plastic—dubbed
“plasticulture”—while mitigating a growing litany of
environmental costs. “How do you balance the use of this
technology that has completely revolutionized agriculture with
the environmental concerns that arise from that?” asked Jazmine
Mejia-Muñoz, a water quality program manager at the nonprofit
California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, at a recent briefing on
plasticulture. … The marine sanctuary foundation works with
agricultural stakeholders to prevent plastic materials
from draining into the bay and ocean.
… As drought tightened its grip on the Klamath basin,
wetlands at Lower Klamath and the neighboring Tule Lake
National Wildlife Refuge began drying rapidly. Many grebe nests
were abandoned. Then avian botulism began killing waterbirds
and hatchlings. … But as the outbreak worsened, groups often
divided over the Klamath Basin’s scarce water began working
together to get more water to the refuges. Water users,
irrigation districts, conservation groups, tribes and
government agencies helped make the deliveries possible. Since
the water arrived in mid-August, bird deaths have declined.
Now, some of those groups are asking whether the emergency
collaboration can yield something more permanent.
Coloradans will weigh in on a ballot measure to redirect excess
funding from the state’s sporting goods and outdoor gear tax to
support conservation projects. The measure, which will appear
on the ballot as Proposition 137, is being supported by a
coalition of conservation groups. … If passed, it would
allow the state to keep the tax revenue generated by the
state’s sales tax on sporting goods and outdoor equipment,
exempting it from being refunded to taxpayers under
TABOR. This excess revenue — which is estimated to
generate around $175 million annually — would go toward
projects like wildfire mitigation, new state parks, river and
clean water protection, improved outdoor recreation
infrastructure, wildlife and habitat management, land
conservation and restoration, grants and more.
This year’s El Niño might be one of the strongest on record,
but its impacts on Colorado’s weather — and upcoming snow
season — are still to be determined, climate and weather
experts say. The El Niño, a climate pattern that begins
in the Pacific Ocean, can drive dry periods in some regions
while others are hit by storms. And this year, it is already
strong and likely to keep growing, according to forecasts. But
because of Colorado’s inland location, and other factors that
influence its weather cycle, climatologists aren’t yet ready to
promise relief from this summer’s punishing drought.
… Western Colorado falls in an in-between area —
there’s a 50-50 chance that it would be a wetter or drier year
than usual.
… On Monday, board chair supervisor Tara Lawson Remer and
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre will unveil a new proposal.
… The idea is to design a treatment system on the U.S.
side of the border that catches the raw sewage before it moves
down stream in San Diego communities and beaches. It appears
the construction of this type of infrastructure would happen in
phases. While the details of the proposal are still up in the
air, Board Chair Supervisor Tara Lawson Remer and Supervisor
Paloma Aguirre will unveil some of the specifics at a press
conference Monday. … County Supervisors said they hope
introducing this new initiative will protect the public health,
environment, and local economy; and get the Tijuana River off
the American Rivers conservation group’s most endangered list.
Stockton boaters got good news and bad news on Friday. The good
news: Dredges are on the way to Buckley Cove to clear out
sediment that has made boating a dicey proposition in some
spots. The built-up silt and sludge can make it particularly
troublesome for those trying to keep their vessels from running
aground. The bad news: The project will require closing the
Buckley Cove Boat Launch from October through December. Boaters
can sill use the launches in Louis and Morelli
parks. Dredging will remove “many years of built-up
sediment to bring back safer, more navigable depths,” Mayor
Christina Fugazi said in a social media post. “This type of
infrastructure work is easy to miss, yet it is vital for
keeping Stockton’s waterways open.”
