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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For years, scientists on the hunt for microplastics have found
them almost everywhere. First, they spotted tiny pieces of
plastic in the ocean, in the bodies of fish and mussels. Then
they found them in soft drinks, in tap water, in vegetables and
fruits, in burgers. Now researchers are discovering that
microplastics are floating around us, suspended in the air on
city streets and inside homes. One study found that people
inhale or ingest on average 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic
particles per year through breathing, eating and drinking.
Today on “Post Reports,” climate reporter Shannon Osaka answers
host Elahe Izadi’s questions about these plastic particles that
humans are taking in in much larger quantities than previously
thought.
In a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on May 8,
Westlands Water District, Metropolitan Water District, and
Friant Water Authority agreed to improve collaborations on
surface, groundwater, transfers, and exchanges of water from
the San Joaquin Valley to Southern California. Furthermore, a
second MOU was signed between Metropolitan and Water Blueprint
for the San Joaquin Valley, a coalition that aims to advance
water accessibility across the state. The MOU intends to
identify, develop, and initiate water projects for the Central
Valley to solidify water resilience. The MOUs are the
first step to initiating discussions on water supply challenges
and improvements that can be made for residents, agriculture,
and industry parties who all rely on some share of California
water allocations.
More than 20,000 San Joaquin Valley residents could be left
high and dry, literally, by Sacramento politicians intent on
using $17.5 million that had paid for water trucked to their
homes to help fill California’s gaping two-year $56 billion
deficit. A local nonprofit that has been hauling water to those
residents sent a letter recently to Governor Gavin
Newsom and top leaders in the Legislature begging them to
reinstate the money in the ongoing budget negotiations.
“Cutting funding for such a crucial program would have
devastating effects on rural and disadvantaged communities by
immediately cutting them off from their sole source of water
supply, and doing so with no warning,” states the June 11
letter from Self-Help Enterprises, a Visalia-based nonprofit
that helps low-income valley residents with housing and water
needs.
After a year of dominance, El Niño’s wrath has come to end —
but it’s climate-churning counterpart, La Niña, is hot on its
heels and could signal a return to dryness for California. El
Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation,
sometimes referred to as ENSO. The climate pattern in the
tropical Pacific is the single largest driver of weather
conditions worldwide, and has been actively disrupting global
temperatures and precipitation patterns since its arrival last
summer. Among other effects, the El Niño event contributed to
months of record-high global ocean temperatures, extreme heat
stress to coral reefs, drought in the Amazon and Central
America, and record-setting atmospheric rivers on the U.S. West
Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said
in its latest ENSO update.
California is awash in water after record-breaking rains
vanquished years of crippling drought. That sounds like great
news for farmers. But Ron McIlroy, whose shop here sells
equipment for plowing fields, knows otherwise. “I’ll be lucky
if I survive this year,” he said. Illustrating how broken
California’s vast water-delivery system is, many farmers in
Central Valley, America’s fruit and vegetable basket, will get
just 40% of the federal water they are supposed to this year.
Why? Endangered fish. The pumps that transport water from wet
Northern California to the semiarid south have been drastically
slowed to protect threatened migrating smelt, measuring up to 3
inches, and steelhead. That means growers in the U.S.’s richest
farming area are having to plant fewer crops even as they are
surrounded by water.
Every snowflake or drop of rain that falls in Wyoming’s Wind
River Mountains eventually plays a part in quenching the water
needs of 20 million Californians, and the demand only seems to
be rising. Meanwhile, the amount of water available from the
Colorado River, which is partly fed by the Green River flowing
out of the Wind River range, is at best barely holding steady.
That means that as a headwaters state, Wyoming could start
feeling pressure from those downriver to give up more.
In the three years that Adel Hagekhalil has led California’s
largest urban water supplier, the general manager has sought to
focus on adaptation to climate change — in part by reducing
reliance on water supplies from distant sources and investing
in local water supplies. His efforts to help shift priorities
at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California,
which has traditionally focused largely on delivering imported
water to the region, have won praise among environmental
advocates who hope to reduce dependence on supplies from the
Colorado River and Northern California. However, now that
Hagekhalil is under investigation for harassment allegations
and has been placed on leave by the MWD board, some of his
supporters say they’re concerned that his sidelining might
interfere with the policies he has helped advance.
The vast territory known as the Owens Valley was home for
centuries to Native Americans who lived along its rivers and
creeks fed by snowmelt that cascaded down the eastern slopes of
the Sierra Nevada. Then came European settlers, and over time,
tribe members lost access to nearly all of that land.
Eventually, the water was lost, too: In the early 20th century,
the developers of Los Angeles famously built a 226-mile-long
aqueduct from Owens Lake to the city. … Owens Lake is now a
patchwork of saline pools covered in pink crystals and wetlands
studded with gravel mounds designed to catch dust. And today,
the four recognized tribes in the area have less than 2,000
acres of reservation land, estimated Teri Red Owl, a local
Native American leader. But things are changing, tribal members
say. They have recently reclaimed corners of the valley, buoyed
by growing momentum across the country to return land to
Indigenous stewardship, also known as the “Land Back”
movement.
Dave Bitts can bring in over 100 salmon by himself. “That’s an
exceptionally good day. If I catch 20 fish it’s worth the
trip,” says Bitts. At 76, he still fishes for salmon alone.
Standing in the cockpit on the stern deck of his wooden
trawler, Elmarue, he can keep an eye on all six wires; when one
of the lines starts to dance, he brings the fish in, stunning
it with his gaff while it’s still in the water. Then he uses
the tool to hook the salmon behind the gills and swings it onto
the deck. … The California Department of Fish and
Wildlife cited “ongoing issues associated with drought and
climate disruption” as factors leading to the closure of this
year’s salmon fishery, which generates $1.4 billion in a normal
year. In fact, salmon stocks along the West Coast have been in
steep decline for decades, and along with it, the industry that
relies on them. In its heyday, California issued over 7,000
commercial salmon fishing permits. Now there are fewer than
1,000, and only half of those boats are active.
Under a shaded refuge adjacent to a still pond in the Central
Valley, dozens of California State Parks officials and
nonprofit leaders assembled Wednesday to laud the first state
park to open in a decade. Among the beaming faces was
Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a community leader representing the tiny town
5 miles away that, thanks to the park’s debut, is being
transformed. If Merced is the “Gateway to Yosemite,”
then Grayson is the gateway to Dos Rios State Park.
The 1,600-acre property lies within the floodplains outside
Modesto and features the intersection of the San Joaquin and
Tuolumne rivers. The park’s proximity to Grayson
offers the town a sense of renewal. Dos Rios will lure visitors
off Interstate 5 and provide residents with a communal backyard
haven. Efforts to restore the floodplain have already shown
signs of success in protecting Grayson from disaster. The
town owes part of its livelihood to restoring the original
habitat and defending itself from flooding.
By any objective standard, the southern coast of San Diego
County is enduring a long-running environmental nightmare.
Decades of billions of gallons of untreated human waste flowing
north from broken sewage infrastructure in Tijuana have
sickened a vast number of surfers and swimmers and many Navy
SEALs training at Coronado. Especially because of ailments
reported by border agents, some doctors worry that the health
threat goes far beyond active ocean users to include those who
spend extended time in coastal areas and breathe air that often
smells like a filthy portable toilet. Now there is fresh
confirmation of how uniquely awful this problem is. The
Surfrider Foundation has released a report on 567 sites in
which it tested water for unsafe bacteria levels and found
Imperial Beach — which has been closed for more than two years
— had far and away the dirtiest water in the United
States.
Those who love the Dolores River canyonlands agree — the swath
of rugged land along Colorado’s western border is one of the
state’s last, best wild places. The tract encompasses
staggering red rock cliffs, broad valleys and rolling hills
that burst into green in the spring. Cutting through it all is
the beloved river, which sometimes dwindles to a trickle.
Nobody wants to see it overrun with tourists and trash, like so
many of the West’s wild places. But disagreements about whether
to designate some of the river and its canyonlands as a
national monument have driven a caustic rift between the people
who love the area. What those protections look like, and who
gets to shape them, are at the center of a fiery debate that,
in some instances, has sunk to name-calling and declarations of
evil doing.
In an effort to elevate the needs of the environment in water
management, the state of Colorado is convening a new committee
that is scheduled to begin meeting this summer. The
Colorado Water Conservation Board and Boulder-based nonprofit
River Network are creating a pilot program known as the
Environmental Flows Cohort, which will assess how much water is
needed to maintain healthy streams and how to meet these flow
recommendations. The cohort will include not just environmental
advocates, but agricultural and municipal water users, who may
initially feel threatened by environmental flow
recommendations. The goal of the program is to address
the barriers that lead to these recommendations being excluded
from local stream management plans. The cohort was one of the
recommendations in a January 2023 analysis of SMPs by
the River Network.
… In the past 12 years, California has endured two multi-year
droughts, including a stretch from 2020 to 2022 that was the
state’s driest three-year period on record. California also
experienced two of the wettest winters on record, fueled by a
parade of atmospheric rivers that caused flooding in Santa
Clara County and across the state. If we fail to invest in
infrastructure now, we all will face serious challenges with
disadvantaged communities bearing the worst through
unaffordable water and increased flooding. That’s why Valley
Water and the Association of California Water Agencies are
advocating for a Climate Resilience Bond to be placed on the
November ballot with two-thirds of the funding going to water
infrastructure. -Written by Rick Callender, Chief Executive
Officer of Valley Water, and Dave Eggerton, Executive
Director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
… Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are trying
to assassinate three initiatives that the people of California
put on the ballot using the powers of direct democracy. They
are attacking two initiatives that are set to be on this
November’s ballot, and one that was long ago approved by voters
and now is being hollowed out. That initiative is Proposition
218 from 1996. It amended the state constitution to put some
limits and controls on property-related fees and charges. For
example, public agencies planning a new or increased
“assessment,” such as higher rates for water service, have to
comply with certain procedures. -Written by columnist Susan Shelley.
Tensions are rising in a border dispute between the United
States and Mexico. But this conflict is not about migration;
it’s about water. Under an 80-year-old treaty, the United
States and Mexico share waters from the Colorado River and the
Rio Grande, respectively. But in the grip of severe drought and
searing temperatures, Mexico has fallen far behind in
deliveries, putting the country’s ability to meet its
obligations in serious doubt. Some politicians say they cannot
give what they do not have. It’s a tough argument to
swallow for farmers in South Texas, also struggling with
a dearth of rain. They say the lack of water from Mexico
is propelling them into crisis, leaving the future of farming
in the balance. Some Texas leaders have called on the Biden
administration to withhold aid from Mexico until it makes good
on the shortfall.
Millions of people dependent on Himalayan snowmelt for water
face a “very serious” risk of shortages this year after one of
the lowest rates of snowfall, scientists warned
Monday. Snowmelt is the source of about a quarter of the
total water flow of 12 major river basins that originate high
in the region, the report said. ”This is a wake-up call
for researchers, policymakers, and downstream communities,”
said report author Sher Muhammad, from the Nepal-based
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
(ICIMOD). ”Lower accumulation of snow and
fluctuating levels of snow pose a very serious increased risk
of water shortages, particularly this year.” Snow and ice
on the Himalayas are a crucial water source for around 240
million people in the mountainous regions, as well as for
another 1.65 billion people in the river
valleys below, according to ICIMOD.
Several dozen dams throughout California could store up to 107
billion more gallons of water if they underwent repairs to fix
safety problems. But facing a staggering state deficit, Gov.
Gavin Newsom has proposed cutting funding for a dam repair
grant program in half this year, while state legislators want
the $50 million restored. California has an aging network
of nearly 1,540 dams — large and small, earthen and concrete —
that help store vital water supplies. For 42 of these dams,
state officials have restricted the amount of water that can be
stored behind them because safety deficiencies would raise the
risk to people downstream from earthquakes, storms or other
problems. Owned by cities, counties, utilities, water
districts and others, these dams have lost nearly 330,000
acre-feet of storage capacity because of the state’s safety
restrictions. That water — equivalent to the amount used by 3.6
million people for a year — could be used to supply
communities, farms or hydropower.
The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California voted to place General Manager Adel Hagekhalil on
leave Thursday while the agency investigates accusations of
harassment against him by the agency’s chief financial officer.
Chief Financial Officer Katano Kasaine made the allegations in
a confidential letter to the board, which was leaked and
published by Politico. She said Hagekhalil has harassed,
demeaned and sidelined her and created a hostile work
environment. MWD Board Chair Adán Ortega Jr. announced the
decision after a closed-door meeting, saying the board voted to
immediately place Hagekhalil on administrative leave and to
temporarily appoint Deven Upadhyay, an assistant general
manager, as interim general manager.
As the drought-strapped Colorado River struggled to feed water
into Lake Powell to keep its massive storage system and power
turbines from crashing in 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, its operator, was scrambling to bring in extra
water from Flaming Gorge and Blue Mesa reservoirs. Since the
return of healthier flows in 2023, water levels in Flaming
Gorge and Blue Mesa have been restored, as required under a
2019 Colorado River Basin drought response plan. But the
subsequent shifting of water in 2023 to balance the contents of
lakes Powell and Mead, required under a set of operating
guidelines approved in 2007, resulted in an accidental release
of 40,000 acre-feet of water that will not be restored to the
Upper Basin because it is within the margin of error associated
with such balancing releases, according to Alex Pivarnik,
supervisory hydrologist with Reclamation’s Upper Colorado Basin
Region.
