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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Extreme weather spurred by climate change, including droughts
and heavy rains, may increase the risk of nitrates from
fertilizers ending up in groundwater, according to a recent
study from researchers at the University of California, Davis.
The study found heavy rains after a drought caused nitrates to
seep 33 feet under farm fields in as little as 10 days. The
study was published in Water Resources Research.
Related groundwater contamination and water pollution articles:
As Arizona grapples with ongoing water supply challenges,
particularly groundwater depletion, the state’s five Active
Management Areas are being geared up for updates to their
Management Plans set to take effect in 2025. The updated plans
will shape how Arizona manages its groundwater resources for
decades to come. Arizona’s approach to groundwater management
began with the Groundwater Management Act of 1980, established
to address the growing groundwater overdraft problem caused by
rapid population growth and agricultural expansion. The act
created the Active Management Areas, which are regions where
groundwater use is closely monitored and regulated.
… Nearly 63% of the US population has fluoridated water
flowing through their taps, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). US health experts
describe fluoridated water — a voluntary practice for local
water districts — as one of modern medicine’s greatest public
health achievements, up there with the recognition that smoking
is bad for you. … An important debate over fluoride is
gaining fresh steam among scientists and legal experts. Some
recent studies suggest more research is still needed on safe
fluoride levels for kids. Plus, a federal ruling in California
this year questioned the US government’s recommended dose.
While many medical professionals — chiefly dentists — support
some level of fluoridation, there is growing agreement
that we still aren’t sure how much fluoride is too much.
Four Klamath River hydroelectric dams have been removed. For
many, the question is: What’s the future of the Keno Dam? The
Keno Dam is a non-power generating dam that was built in 1967
after a flood washed out the wooden Needle Dam. It was owned by
PacifiCorp until ownership was recently transferred to the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation. Located about a mile south of Keno, it
impounds water from Keno about 22 miles upstream to Lake Ewauna
in Klamath Falls. It also provides for about a third othe water
for Klamath Reclamation Project irrigators. Because of its
importance to agriculture, the dam will remain in place.
… The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is
exploring fish passage options at Keno Dam with a recent $1.9
million NOAA award.
As urgency grows to develop climate solutions, a new UCLA
report confirms that the wastewater recycling plans for the
nation’s second-largest city would make Los Angeles more
resilient and self-reliant during droughts or disasters that
cut off outside water supplies. Using a new methodology to
evaluate hundreds of thousands of scenarios, the UCLA research
team, led by the Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), found that
the Los Angeles city plan would significantly boost local water
resilience, minimize risks of aging infrastructure and
uncertain water imports, and dramatically reduce drought- and
earthquake-driven water shortages.
A California food by-product recycler was accused in a new
Clean Water Act lawsuit of discharging polluted stormwater into
the San Joaquin River in violation of its stormwater permit.
Pacific Environmental Advocates LLC’s lawsuit, filed Monday in
the US District Court for the Eastern District of California,
alleges that ReConserve of California – Stockton Inc. has been
dumping the polluted water since March 10, 2019, from the
company’s facility in Stockton, Calif.
Chula Vista now joins a growing list of cities in the South Bay
and San Diego County to declare a state of emergency over the
Tijuana River sewage crisis. A resolution brought forward
by Mayor John McCann was unanimously approved by city council.
It comes after McCann joined other mayors from the region to
lobby for more funds in Washington D.C. While millions of
dollars have been secured for improvements and upgrades to a
wastewater treatment plant north of the border, McCann
acknowledged more funding is still needed. “We know the
estimate is probably a billion dollars,” McCann said.
Hikers and Kern River advocates began finding multiple dead
Canada geese in and around Truxtun Lakes starting Thursday.
California State University Biology Professor Rae McNeish
counted at least 10 dead adult birds along the shore and saw
another two on the island, according to an email string SJV
Water was included on. “The birds look like they recently died,
we’re in pretty good condition overall, and were not wounded,”
McNeish wrote in the email string on Thursday. “They look like
they just laid down and died.” She also reported she had spoken
with a woman, apparently from the California Department of Fish
and Wildlife, who was at the lake and had bagged a couple of
the birds “for testing.”
During their meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, the Antioch
City Council could not get three votes to approve water rates
for the coming year. With District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica
absent due to a family medical emergency, the remaining four
members split 2-1-1 on the motion to increase rates and
continue the current tiered rate structure. The structure means
those residential customers who use more water pay a higher per
gallon rate, effectively subsidizing the rates for those who
use less water each month. Following the vote, during one of
his final meetings on the council, Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe
acted like Pontius Pilate and washed his hands of it saying,
“If the new council wants to take this up, they can take it
up.”
The city’s drinking water now meets the trihalomethane levels
set forth by regulatory agencies. The levels for the past four
quarters were below the maximum concentration level of 80 parts
per billion. “This progress follows a series of significant
updates and process improvements at the water treatment
facilities aimed at reducing THM levels and ensuring water
quality for Suisun City residents,” wrote City Manager Bret
Prebula. Trihalomethanes, a byproduct of chlorine disinfection,
can be produced during the pre-chlorination step of the water
treatment process. It’s critical for removing organic materials
and heavy metals.
Jacobs has been selected by LA Sanitation and Environment
(LASAN) to lead the progressive design-build of the Donald C.
Tillman Advanced Water Equalization Basins. This project is a
vital component of Los Angeles’ ambitious goal to significantly
boost recycled water production by 2035. The Donald C. Tillman
Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF), another project
entrusted to Jacobs, relies on a steady flow of primary
effluent to generate purified water for groundwater
replenishment. The equalization basins, with a capacity of up
to 9.5 million gallons, will stabilize water flow to the AWPF,
ensuring optimal operation of the facility’s advanced treatment
processes. These initiatives are part of the broader Los
Angeles Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) Project.
In a significant boost for increasing Northern California’s
water supplies, eight water agencies have reached an agreement
with the federal government to spend nearly $1 billion to raise
the height of the dam at one of California’s largest
reservoirs, San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Los
Banos. Already the fifth largest reservoir in the state,
San Luis would expand by 130,000 acre feet — enough water for
650,000 people a year — under the deal, which calls for raising
its 382-foot dam by 10 feet to store more water during wet
years to use during droughts.
… Trump is certain to clash with California leaders over
water. He has said the resource is “horribly mismanaged” in
California and has promised to turn on a massive “faucet” for
farmers and cities — partly by weakening environmental
protections for such species as the Delta smelt. But such
efforts, while popular among Trump supporters in rural farming
communities, could encounter substantial obstacles.
… [Last] Tuesday, Californians voted to approve Proposition
4, $10 billion in bonds for environmental projects. That
includes $200 million for the state’s Multibenefit Land
Repurposing Program (MLRP) which pays farmers and local
agencies to put farmland to less water intensive uses such
as, solar, wildlife habitat, recreation and groundwater
recharge basins. … Research shows that when farmland is
converted to other beneficial uses near disadvantaged
communities, that can also uplift the local
economy. Residents in the small town of Fairmead in Madera
County are trying to do just that. Fairmead is surrounded by
crops and has suffered from plummeting aquifer levels which
have left household wells dry in recent years and
even dried up one of the community wells.
Wildfire season appears to be closing fast in Northern
California, where rain drenched the San Francisco Bay Area,
snow sent cars spinning across slippery Sierra mountain roads
and foothill communities braced for flooding. The risk of fire
has dramatically dropped for much of the state north of
Monterey, following the hottest summer on record and a
destructive wildfire season. Yet the threat of fire remains
high in Southern California. Dozens of homes still smoldered in
Ventura County after Santa Ana winds drove the Mountain Fire
through Camarillo. And there’s no rain in the near-term
forecast for the southern third of the state, said climate
scientist Daniel Swain.
…. Today, the effects of climate change on Arizona have
become almost as evident as the smoke hanging over the canyon:
dwindling snowpack and extreme drought are stretching
Colorado River supplies thin, summer temperatures
are getting hotter and increasing heat-related deaths,
and more destructive wildfires are scorching
landscapes and lives. Temperatures in Maricopa County alone
have risen by nearly 2 degrees Celsius since record-keeping
began in 1895. But Arizona is not the leader it was
15 years ago when the state led the West on regional haze and
then climate policy. Cities have largely taken the lead on
climate policies. In recent years, the governor and the
Legislature have taken no cohesive action, enacting laws
that prohibit mitigation efforts at a local
level. One state law even prevents state agencies from
monitoring greenhouse gases.
Denver’s first major snowstorm of the year brought nearly three
times the average for all of November, dropping 20 inches by
Saturday morning. Now, temperatures are already warming and
melting what’s on the ground. The Rocky Mountains west of
Denver were on the edge of the storm’s crosshairs, and snowfall
totals in the Upper Colorado River Basin are above average as
winter approaches. Snowpack — or snow water equivalent (SWE) —
in the region that feeds the Colorado River is currently at
147% of normal for this time of year.
For a few weeks each spring, Kathleen Curry, a rancher and
former state lawmaker, gets to use more than her legal share of
Colorado’s water. The extra water is vital for ranchers in her
area, she said. … But new research suggests taking that extra
water away to help stabilize the overstressed Colorado River
Basin. When there’s an abundance of water, people can use more
than their legal share thanks to a quirk of water law called
the free river condition. The researchers, primarily from the
University of Virginia, call the practice an archaic “loophole”
that should be closed to properly manage the state’s water
resources.
… The estuary at the southern edge of California, which
borders Mexico, has been too polluted with untreated wastewater
and sedimentation spilling over from Tijuana. … But
then, something unexpected happened. They found an opaleye
inside one of the traps. That was an exciting moment for
researchers at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research
Reserve who have been monitoring the estuary’s health for years
and are part of multi-agency efforts to restore the coastal
wetland. “Opaleyes are more marine fish,” said [Researcher Jeff
Crooks]. “So, this is showing that the species is coming in and
using it as a nursery. ”There’s a connection, he added, between
the small fish’s presence and the Reserve’s new preliminary
findings about alarming dissolved oxygen levels in the water.
Dissolved oxygen is the amount of oxygen present in water. The
higher it is, the better the water quality and the more oxygen
available for fish and other aquatic organisms.
… Pistachios are growing fast in California, where farmers
have been devoting more land to a crop seen as hardier and more
drought-tolerant in a state prone to dramatic swings in
precipitation. The crop generated nearly $3 billion last year
in California and in the past decade the United States has
surpassed Iran to become the world’s top exporter of the nut.
… Much of the crop is headed to China, where it is a
popular treat during Lunar New Year.
