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.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Please Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. Also, 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.
Head down towards the waterways of Discovery Bay in East Contra
Costa County, and you’ll be greeted with a somewhat unpleasant
site. “People who come in, the first thing they’ll do is come
into the bay and see this green goo,” says Tony George. The
California State Water Resources Control Board has issued a
warning to stay out of the water after the discovery of algae
blooms. George is the vice president of the town’s chamber of
commerce. He says while the algae bloom has happened every
summer for the past few years, the recent heat waves have made
it occur earlier than normal. “This year, especially with the
temperatures we’ve had out here up to 112, 113 degrees, it’s
been worse than it has been in a while,” George said. An issue,
George believes, impacts the town not just environmentally but
also economically.
Palmdale Water District’s new advanced water treatment
demonstration facility received a boost with a $14.8 million
loan from the US Environmental Protection Agency, district
officials announced Thursday. The Water Infrastructure Finance
and Innovation Act loan is expected to save the district about
$4 million in interest over a 20-year period compared to
traditional financing. The Pure Water Antelope Valley
Demonstration Facility will cost $24.5 million. “We are
grateful to the EPA for awarding this loan for our Pure Water
AV Demonstration Facility,” PWD General Manager Dennis D.
LaMoreaux said. “It gives us the funds needed to build a
project that will enable us to be more drought-proof, have
local control of our water, and improve the groundwater quality
and quantity.”
When a Los Angeles City Council committee approved a motion
calling for a feasibility study into a potential ban on
artificial grass in L.A., Kelly Shannon McNeil, associate
director of the nonprofit Los Angeles Waterkeeper, saw the move
as an “incredibly positive step.” The city council’s Energy and
Environment Committee voted on June 28 to approve a study in
order to understand the health impacts of artificial turf — a
product that is widely used by schools, homeowners and many
others, but which can contain synthetic chemicals known as
polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. … Artificial turf is
promoted as not requiring water like real grass — but
artificial turf is sometimes watered to cool down the green
plastic on hot, sunny days. It is being widely installed in
residential yards, recreational areas and sports
fields. But Los Angeles city council members Bob
Blumenfield and Katy Yaroslavsky, who introduced and seconded
the motion, want to know if the health impacts of artificial
turf outweigh the potential benefits.
As California grapples with the multifaceted challenges of a
changing climate, the state finds itself at a critical
juncture, facing a convergence of environmental, demographic,
and climatic challenges that are reshaping its landscape and
testing the resilience of its communities. Amid these
challenges, water desalination is emerging as a promising
solution to the state’s enduring drought and water supply
issues. This process, which involves removing salts and
minerals from seawater or brackish water, offers a dependable
source of potable water without further straining traditional
freshwater resources. If done with proper planning and
collaboration across the public and private sectors, then
desalination technology has the potential to redefine our
relationship with one of our most precious resources.
If energy powers civilization, water gives it life. One of the
biggest challenges of our time is to develop the means to
deliver both of these essentials in abundance, while also
keeping them affordable and ecologically sustainable. … The
potential for multi-year droughts along with occasional very
wet years necessitates a robust system of water storage and
distribution. Before discussing what we should add to this
system, and how to prioritize the maintenance and upgrades of
what we’ve already got, it’s necessary to know how we currently
use water in the state.
Just as one of the worst heat waves in recorded history was
beginning, Sacramento County decided to stop delivering water
to homeless encampments. A source of federal funds had run dry.
Keeping the homeless alive simply wasn’t a county priority.
That is an unfair hand to deal to the unhoused Sacramentans who
had been relying on this water supply to survive. Water for any
human being is not an option. It is a requirement to exist.
This is a black eye to county supervisors who say they do a
good job managing homelessness and don’t get credit for it. And
now that the county has failed to meet this most basic of
needs, the city should be prepared to step in and do the
county’s job for them. Neither thirst nor the sun are going
away. It’s quite ironic that the county stopped delivering
water just about when the U.S. Supreme Court gave the county
and local jurisdictions throughout the West more power to
criminalize homelessness. At least in jail, the county provides
water.
… When flames finally came for the old Lahaina town in
August, they killed at least 101 people and destroyed thousands
of homes. … The fire has forced a reckoning over the
ways outside interests have historically exploited the island’s
natural environment. But for those who want change, Lahaina’s
wholesale destruction has presented an unprecedented
opportunity to reimagine the town from the groundwater up, a
chance to restore the wetlands and the hallowed site at their
heart. … Such a project might take years, and it would have
to clear many practical and political hurdles. But with Lahaina
reduced to ashes, some of the state’s most influential voices,
from politicians to tourism groups, are signaling their support
for restoration, an early indicator that the effort may have
more momentum than ever. In the burn scar, the water itself is
already making a statement. Freed from the constrictions that
long suppressed its flow, it is seeping back. In once-dry
ditches and abandoned fields, beneath piles of twisted metal,
rubble and charred ruins, the water is returning all on its
own, a sign, experts say, that restoration is ecologically
possible.
Over the July 4 weekend, hundreds of fires sparked across
California, feeding on the hot, dry conditions of an ongoing
heat wave. But some of these fires were strange. They grew
rapidly and expanded their territory at a time when fires, like
people, traditionally rest: at night. … “Night won’t save
us,” said Kaiwei Luo, a doctoral student in environmental
sciences at the University of Alberta and the lead author of a
recent study in the journal Nature that found overnight burning
can cause fires to burn larger and longer. “With climate
change, we will see more and more overnight burning,” he said.
… Mr. Luo’s study found that while heat waves are a
big contributor to extreme fire behavior, drought conditions
could be the main driver. Understanding these factors
could help emergency managers and communities better prepare.
… If a fire starts in an area of drought, for example,
firefighters could anticipate that overnight burning is likely
to increase the fire’s range and severity.
Tucked between an interstate and a mountainside in the base of
a steep canyon in western Colorado, a small hydropower station
has long staked an outsize claim on the Colorado River. That’s
because the 115-year-old Shoshone Generating Station in
Glenwood Springs owns something unique in the parched West: 1
million acre-feet of water rights, some of the oldest and
largest in the state. Turning on the tap at the power facility
can change how water flows on both sides of the Continental
Divide: boosting flows west to farmers, ranchers and rural
communities all the way to the Utah border, or curbing
facilities that funnel it east to the Front Range and
population centers like Denver and its suburbs. All of that
influence means that as the aging facility approaches a likely
retirement in coming years, who controls those flows is
significant in a state often split between its rural West and
urban East, demarcated by the Rocky Mountains.
Coming to your California ballot this November is a question
from the state’s governor and lawmakers: Will you, dear voter,
approve $10 billion in state borrowing to help pay for climate
and environmental programs? … It’s also called the Safe
Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and
Clean Air Bond Act of 2024. … More than half will be
used to protect and increase water supply, according to a bond
analysis. That includes grants for drinking water quality,
groundwater storage and sustainability projects, and water
recycling programs. Just under half will be for flood risk
reduction, dam safety, and restoration of watersheds and
wetlands.
The Biden administration is finalizing a policy first proposed
in 2015 that aims to protect tens of thousands of federally
funded construction projects from heightened flooding caused by
climate change. Starting Sept. 9, public infrastructure that’s
rebuilt after a disaster with money from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency will have to be elevated at least 2 feet
above the local flood level. Projects include police stations,
schools, sewer plants, roads and bridges. The final rule being
announced by the White House on Wednesday marks a long-delayed
victory for environmental, taxpayer and insurance groups that
have sought to strengthen building standards in flood-prone
areas. It took nearly a decade and spanned three presidencies,
including a period of opposition during former President Donald
Trump’s administration.
Amid the historic removal of dams on the Klamath River, the
Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation
announced the launch of a new fund to support projects in the
drastically changing Klamath Basin. According to a Tuesday news
release, the fund will support “grantmaking to bolster
community healing, Tribal self-determination, science and
restoration, storytelling, climate resilience, regenerative
agriculture, environmental stewardship, and more.” Starting
with $10 million, the foundations aim to support the health and
restoration of the basin and the communities that live in it.
At least 60% must go to tribes or Indigenous-led organizations,
according to the release, with a focus on climate resilience
and restorative justice projects.
Lawmakers from both parties have introduced legislation in
Congress after three Arizona tribal nations came together to
successfully negotiate a sweeping Indian water settlement. …
The settlement will resolve the most significant outstanding
water claims in Arizona and bring water to residents of the
Navajo, Hopi and Southern San Juan Paiute tribes, among many
other benefits. Leaders say it’s critical to move the
legislation forward, not only because of the political
situation, but because talks are underway to reduce water use
on the Colorado River. … The legislation will
authorize $5 billion in federal funding for water
infrastructure on the sovereign territories of the Navajo
Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe,
the largest water project for an Indian settlement.
Thanks to Hetch Hetchy, [San Francisco] has some of the
cleanest tap water across California. But for nearly 1 million
people statewide, healthy drinking water remains out of
reach. … Experts and advocates who spoke to The
Examiner unanimously used one word to describe the most
pertinent solution to address the water issues plaguing the
state: consolidation. In other words, getting big
municipalities with access to dense water resources to absorb
smaller, struggling water systems. … There are currently more
than 7,000 water systems throughout the state, which is, in
itself, a major part of the problem, the experts said, and why
2% of the population lacks clean drinking water access. … San
Francisco is, in some ways, the poster child for the difference
it makes when a large population is served by a consolidated
water system. The City’s water is managed by a single public
utility, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
… And, for nearly 100 years, San Franciscans have
received their drinking water almost exclusively from Hetch
Hetchy Reservoir, a rich snowmelt-fed body of water in the
Yosemite Valley. … San Francisco is one of just five
water systems that has not received a failing report since the
state began evaluating them in 2017.
The Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform held its
first hearing on June 18, 2024, commencing its efforts to
address California’s housing and climate crises by reforming
the state’s land use permitting regime. … At the first
hearing, panelists from academia, government, and industry
shared their perspectives on California’s permitting process
… The panelists offered recommendations to address state and
local permitting obstacles. Panelists also identified issues
with current California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
requirements. … Marissa Mitchell, head of environmental
permitting for Intersect Power, commented that CEQA
counterintuitively requires solar developers to mitigate
impacts to farmland that is subject to water restrictions
imposed through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and
already slated to be fallowed.
Farmers who grow hay in the Imperial Valley will soon be
eligible to receive cash payments in exchange for temporarily
shutting off water to their fields for up to two months this
year. Under a program approved by the board of the Imperial
Irrigation District, farmers can now apply for federal funds to
compensate them for harvesting less hay as part of an effort to
ease strains on the Colorado River. Paying growers to
leave fields dry and fallow for part of the year represents a
major new step by the district to help boost the levels of the
river’s reservoirs, which have been depleted by chronic
overuse, years of drought and higher temperatures caused
by climate change. The Imperial Irrigation District delivers
the single largest share of the Colorado River’s water to
farmlands that produce hay for cattle as well as many of the
country’s vegetables. District officials … say the approach
is aimed at avoiding longer-term fallowing of crops that would
take farmland out of production and bring a heavier blow to
food production and the area’s economy.
A massive fish die-off has closed a popular lake and recreation
area in Monterey County amid speculation by state officials
that warming water caused the kill. Lake San Antonio, a county
park in southern Monterey County, was closed Tuesday as crews
deal with the removal of up to hundreds of thousands of
freshwater fish of multiple species that have washed up against
the shoreline. Among the species in the die-off are trout,
carp, crappie and bass, including one 4-pound trophy
bass. The water is being tested in an attempt to
determine the cause. A preliminary indication is oxygen
depletion due to warm water, according to the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Biden administration pushed out a flurry of major
environmental rules early this year under a looming threat of
rollbacks if former President Donald Trump clinches the White
House in November’s election. But some significant rules won’t
get out the door in time to shield them from being reversed if
Trump wins, a reality that was on stark display last week when
the Biden administration released its plans for upcoming
regulations. … Earlier this year, Biden’s agencies
finished a series of significant regulations, including a
high-stakes power plant rule on climate pollution, a policy
governing conservation of public lands and drinking water
standards for some members of the “forever chemicals” family
known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. … EPA
is expected to roll out a revised lead and copper rule for
drinking water systems, which would trigger action sooner to
reduce lead exposure and require lead pipes to be replaced
within 10 years. That rule isn’t expected to be
completed until October.
Practical solutions to California’s energy and water shortages
will always have a better chance of being implemented if they
adhere to the limitations placed upon them by those concerned
about climate change. A solution that should work for everyone
is forest thinning. … It turns out that forest
thinning also reduces the amount of water that is immediately
taken up by the roots of overcrowded trees and undergrowth and
transpired into the atmosphere. Instead, more of this water can
run off into tributaries or percolate to recharge springs. How
much water? A 2011 study by experts from the University of
California, Merced, and UC Berkeley … reports that 60% of the
state’s consumptive water comes in the form of Sierra runoff,
and when forest cover is reduced by 40%, total runoff increases
by an estimated 9%. … if California’s forests were
thinned appropriately, 2.2 million acre-feet of water would be
added to California’s water supply in an average year. — written by Edward Ring, senior fellow with the
California Policy Center and author of the “The Abundance
Choice: Our Fight for More Water in California.”
The California Energy Commission [Wednesday] unanimously
approved a sweeping plan to develop a massive floating offshore
wind industry in ocean waters — a first-of-its-kind undertaking
that will require billions in public and private investments
and could transform parts of the coast. The new state plan sets
the path for harnessing wind power from hundreds of giant
turbines, each as tall as a 70-story building, floating in the
ocean about 20 miles off Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay. The
untapped energy is expected to become a major power source as
California electrifies vehicles and switches to clean energy.
California’s wind farms represent a giant experiment: No other
place in the world has floating wind operations in such deep
waters — more than a half-mile deep — so far from shore.
The commission’s vote today came after representatives of
various industries, environmentalists, community leaders and
others mostly expressed support for offshore wind, although
some voiced concerns.
