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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The Merced River and the San Joaquin River will be closed for
recreational use throughout Merced County, announced the Merced
County Sheriff’s Office on Monday. Sheriff’s officials say the
snow melting the Sierra Nevada Mountains, is provoking
more water to be released into the county’s waterways and is
making conditions very dangerous in the rivers. The
announcement comes after Sheriff Vern Warnke says they have
encountered tragedies along the river recently, including
people going missing after going to the river. Sheriff Warnke
says it is okay to go fishing in the river, but activities such
as kayaking, swimming, and any other activities that have
anything to do with getting into the water are prohibited until
further notice. “The water’s running fast, running cold,
running deep. So please, stay out of the water,” Warnke
said.
[Tuolumne River Trust's policy director Peter] Drekmeier’s beef
with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission goes back
years and rests on the premise that the agency stores far more
water than it needs in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, on the upper
Tuolumne, at the expense of the river downstream. The
commission’s water management plan is based on the unlikely
possibility of an 8.5-year drought—a theoretical disaster
dubbed the “design drought” that critics consider overkill. …
Environmentalists insist the agency could take a more
fish-friendly approach, releasing more water through
O’Shaughnessy Dam into the Tuolumne River while still providing
adequate supplies for its 2.7 million customers.
During a surprise appearance at the 2024 ACWA Spring Conference
& Expo in Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed climate
change adaptation while expressing strong support for local
control of water resources. Newsom joins a long list of
California governors who have spoken at ACWA conferences
throughout the association’s history, including past Gov. Jerry
Brown. Gov. Newsom’s address highlighted several areas of
interest to ACWA member agencies. Water has remained a leading
issue during Newsom’s second term in office, and he made that
abundantly clear during his 15-minute address. California
Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot introduced Newsom
during Crowfoot’s May 8 keynote speech, which also focused on
the critical role of California water management in an era
defined by climate extremes.
Can metals that naturally occur in seawater be mined, and can
they be mined sustainably? A company in Oakland, California,
says yes. And not only is it extracting magnesium from ocean
water — and from waste brine generated by industry — it is
doing it in a carbon-neutral way. Magrathea Metals has produced
small amounts of magnesium in pilot projects, and with
financial support from the U.S. Defense Department, it is
building a larger-scale facility to produce about 200 tons of
the metal a year. By 2028, it says it plans to be operating a
facility that will annually produce more than 11,000
tons. … Brines come from a number of sources: much
new research focuses on the potential for extracting
metals from briny wastes generated by industry, including
coal-fired power plants that discharge waste into tailings
ponds; wastewater pumped out of oil and gas wells — called
produced water; wastewater from hard-rock mining; and
desalination plants.
The U.S. government is dedicating $60 million over the next few
years to projects along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico
and West Texas to make the river more resilient in the face of
climate change and growing demands. The funding announced
Friday by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland marks the first
disbursement from the Inflation Reduction Act for a basin
outside of the Colorado River system. While pressures on the
Colorado River have dominated headlines, Haaland and others
acknowledged that other communities in the West — from Native
American reservations to growing cities and agricultural
strongholds — are experiencing the effects of unprecedented
drought.
California’s almond crop this year is expected to increase by
21 percent compared to 2023, according to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. The USDA expects the almond crop to total
around three billion pounds, a significant boost from the 2.47
billion pounds produced last year. Driving the
news: California’s lofty almond production projections are
driven by favorable weather for the first half of the growing
season, according to an analysis from the USDA.
… If California’s almond crop projections are accurate,
2024 would be the second-best year on record in the last
decade.
A multi-disciplinary authorship group of over 30 individuals
has published a report comprised of literature review, policy
analysis, and recommendations pertaining to the water impacts
of cover crop practices in California’s Central Valley under
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The report,
entitled “Cover Cropping in the SGMA Era,” is the product of a
convening process jointly developed by the California
Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD),
California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Natural
Resources Conservation Service of California (NRCS-CA), and
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC
ANR) and assembled by Sustainable Conservation.
A 53-year-old Tracy man has been sentenced to six months of
home confinement for a cyber attack on the Discovery Bay Water
Treatment Facility in 2021, prosecutors said. The sentence
was handed down on May 8, according to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office. A federal grand jury indicted Rambler Gallo last
June, charging him with a single felony count of
transmitting a program, information, code and command to cause
damage to a protected computer, prosecutors said. Gallo pleaded
guilty to the charge. Gallo was a full-time employee for a
Massachusetts-based company that contracted with Discovery Bay
to operate the town’s water treatment plant, which serves
15,000 residents.
The Pleasanton City Council unanimously approved finance
documents to allow the city to issue water revenue bonds with a
principal maximum amount of $19 million, which will help pay
for water system improvement projects and the first phase and
design work for drilling new wells as part of the city’s Water
Supply Alternative Project. Following the council decision to
authorize the bond issuance during the May 7 council meeting,
staff said pricing and interest rates for the bonds will be
established on May 20 or May 21 with the goal of having the
city receive the bond proceeds on June 4. “This is similar to
buying a house. You don’t just get it from your salary,
sometimes you have to go into debt and pay it back over time,”
Mayor Karla Brown said during the meeting. “But this will be a
big shift in this city.”
The county’s study seeks to determine how decommissioning Scott
Dam could affect the surrounding ecosystem, the Lake Pillsbury
water supply, infrastructure, power, sediment and the county’s
ability to fight fire. “The grant was part of a conversation
with CDFW we’ve been having for a while,” said Lake County
Board of Supervisors chair Bruno Sabatier. The county on May 2
put out its call for a company to do the study in response to
Pacific Gas & Electric’s efforts to decommission its powerhouse
in Potter Valley, which includes Scott and Cape Horn dams. The
power company detailed its plans to tear down the dams, located
on the Eel River, in November 2023. Scott Dam was built in 1921
and, according to PG&E’s plan, is slated to come down
before Cape Horn Dam and could come down in phases or in one
season. Those plans still need final approval from the Federal
Energy Regulation Commission.
Dow Chemical and Shell USA are facing a negligence suit in
California federal court by the city of Pomona, alleging the
companies are responsible for manufacturing commercial products
containing the toxic 1,2,3-trichloropropane that has migrated
into the city’s water supply and seeking to recoup costs over
response efforts. …
As federal officials grapple with how to contain the highly
contagious strain of avian flu that has infected chickens,
turkeys, and dairy cattle on farms across the U.S., a number of
scientists are pointing to one factor that could be driving the
spread of its virus and its spillover from wild birds to farm
animals. Waterfowl—ducks, geese, and swans—are the primary host
of the viruses, and large animal agriculture facilities are
often found in close proximity to their remaining wetland
habitats. For instance, California’s Central Valley and the
East Coast’s Delmarva Peninsula are both critical wintering
grounds for waterfowl, along major North American bird
migration routes, and epicenters of U.S. poultry production. As
a result, some scientists who track waterfowl question whether
this geographic overlap—alongside the shrinkage of waterfowl
habitats—creates more opportunities for the virus to spread
between infected waterfowl and the animals in agricultural
facilities.
Many Los Angeles residents will see their sewer fees double
over the next four years, with the City Council approving the
increases Tuesday over the objections of business groups
concerned that landlords will be disproportionately affected.
The council voted 11 to 4 for the rate hikes, with
Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez, Kevin de León, Imelda Padilla
and Heather Hutt dissenting. The increases are needed to fund
the rising cost of construction and materials, officials with
the Bureau of Sanitation said. The officials said that labor
costs will rise 24% over the next five years because of a
recent salary package for city workers backed by Mayor Karen
Bass and the council.
What sparked your passion for exploring California’s outdoors
and how did you find yourself drawn to the world of
fly-fishing? Being born in British Columbia and growing up in
California, the forested coastal woodland environment is in my
DNA. My family lived in the foothills of Los Angeles and nature
has always been a place where I find strength, peace, and
wonder. It recharges me. When I was growing up in LA, the air
quality was terrible and there seemed to be a concrete jungle
all around me. The riding and hiking trails around my home were
my refuge. My mom also had a big influence on how I see nature.
She appreciated and observed the natural world so closely, and
I first saw nature through her eyes – so full of curiosity and
wonder.
The removal of the last of four dams scheduled to be taken down
on the Klamath River began Monday as work crews descended on
Oregon’s 68-foot J.C. Boyle Dam. Located about 12 miles north
of the California border, the earthen dam with two turbines and
a power-generation plant produced hydroelectricity from 1958 to
earlier this year, when the reservoir behind the dam was
drained for the historic dismantling work. The dam is being
removed, like the others downstream in California, in a
monumental effort to help rewild the 250-mile Klamath River,
where fish, notably salmon, have been shut out of the river’s
remote upper watershed since the early 1900s because of the
power project. The $500 million demolition is the largest dam
removal in U.S. history.
The Colorado River provides water to more than 40 million
people. The Basin includes 30 federally recognized Indian
tribes and seven states (Colorado, Wyoming, California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada). Tribal nations in Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have been left out of key
agreements involving the Colorado River for well over a century
now. In April, the Upper Colorado River Commission – that’s an
agency at the nexus of many Colorado River discussions in the
Upper Basin – voted to back a new proposed agreement that would
make regular meetings with tribes be mandatory for the first
time in the group’s 76-year history. Mira Barney is a
Diné (Navajo) woman working at the National Wildlife
Federation. She is also pursuing a graduate certificate in
Environmental Justice at CU Boulder, and works as Program
Assistance with Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network.
They generate green energy. They save money. They slow
evaporation. They float. And the Sweetwater Authority wants to
put them on its Sweetwater Reservoir. General Manager Carlos
Quintero said the water agency is exploring the environmental
impact of a 9.5 acre floating solar array that would be placed
near the Sweetwater Dam. It would cover roughly 1.3% of the
reservoir, Quintero said, and could generate as much as
two-thirds of the energy needed to make the reservoir water
drinkable and decrease a small amount of evaporation.
… Water agencies in other states have deployed floating
solar panels on reservoirs. Sweetwater would be the first in
California …
San Francisco is poised to become the first city in the country
to issue a ban on firefighter clothing manufactured with
so-called forever chemicals. Local lawmakers are expected
to pass an ordinance on Tuesday prohibiting the use of
protective equipment made with per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances, or PFAS. The long-lasting compounds do not break
down, allowing them to linger almost permanently in the
environment. PFAS can be ingested or absorbed into the skin and
have been linked to harmful health effects, including decreased
fertility, low-birth weight and developmental delays in
children, a higher risk of certain cancers and increased
cholesterol levels, according to the Environmental Protection
Agency.
Beyond a chain-link fence topped with spiraled barbed wire,
swaying coastal grasses conceal a cache of buried radioactive
waste and toxic pesticides from a bygone chemical plant.
Warning signs along the Richmond, Calif., site’s perimeter
attempt to discourage trespassers from breaching the locked
gates, where soil testing has detected cancer-causing gamma
radiation more than 60 times higher than background levels in
some places. For most of the 20th century, the former
Stauffer Chemical Co. disposed of thousands of tons of
industrial waste near its factory grounds along Richmond’s
southeast shoreline. … In a January letter to Albany and
Berkeley city officials, [the State Water Board] wrote
that the landfills “may have accepted industrial waste
materials that could present a risk to water quality, human
health, and the environment.”
If you visit the Delta town of Walnut Grove during winter or
spring, look for a surprise in the Sacramento River just before
it meets Georgiana Slough. A steady stream of bubbles rises
from the river bottom, accompanied by flashes of bright yellow
strobe lights and low whooshing sounds. It looks like an art
installation, especially at night. But this barrage of
light, noise and bubbles is actually there to protect imperiled
baby salmon. F
