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 Interim Director Doug Beeman.
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California State Parks, the California Coastal
Commission’s Boating Clean and Green Program, and The Bay
Foundation invite the public to participate in California’s
Dockwalker Program, now in its 25th year. Free virtual and
in-person training sessions will be held from mid-March through
May 2025. By joining the program and attending the training,
participants provide a critical community service by sharing
educational tools to promote clean boating and help reduce
water quality impacts. Dockwalkers help raise awareness
about important boating practices related to curbing pollutants
such as oil, fuel, sewage, trash, and marine debris through the
distribution of educational materials, such as the California
Boater Kits, at marinas, boat launch ramps and boating events,
or anywhere where boaters are.
Representatives of California, Arizona and Nevada are urging
the Trump administration to take a different approach in
confronting the problems of the water-starved Colorado River.
As Trump’s appointees inherit the task of writing new rules for
dealing with the river’s chronic water shortages, the three
states are raising several concerns they want to see addressed.
One of their top asks: consider fixing or overhauling Glen
Canyon Dam. … If the levels of Lake Powell continue to
decline and reach critically low levels, water could be
released only through four 8-foot-wide steel tubes. … Last
year, federal officials discovered damage inside those
four tubes that could severely restrict water flow
when reservoir levels are low.
… The Trump administration’s plan to alter the Clean Water
Act’s definition of wetlands to exclude (seasonal streams,
ponds and pools) could render vast areas of California
essentially unprotected from developers and
growers. … (A) new bill introduced last month,
(state) Senate Bill 601, would build in more protection,
amending the state Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act to
copy existing federal protections. It would, among other
provisions, require new permitting rules for pollutants from
business operations or construction.
Other federal and Calif. environmental regulation news:
Trump administration workforce cuts at federal agencies
overseeing U.S. dams are threatening their ability to provide
reliable electricity, supply farmers with water and protect
communities from floods, employees and industry experts warn.
The Bureau of Reclamation provides water and hydropower to the
public in 17 western states. Nearly 400 agency workers have
been cut through the Trump reduction plan, an administration
official said. “Reductions-in-force” memos have also been
sent to current workers, and more layoffs are expected.
Other environmental and public resource agency job
cut news:
Modernized changes to long-held operating procedures at the
dams walling Lake Oroville and New Bullards Bar Reservoir in
Northern California could improve flood safety for communities
along the Feather and Yuba rivers. That’s the finding several
agencies reached in a new report exploring the effects of using
improved monitoring, weather and runoff projections to
determine when and how to release water from the
reservoirs. … The Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations
report, a collaboration of several local and state agencies,
found that timing water releases in advance of atmospheric
rivers — using forecasts to predict storms’ strength and
duration — could mitigate the risk of flooding downstream while
improving water storage, according to the news release.
As winter nears its end and Colorado’s mountains get hit with
the latest March snowstorm, climatologists and forecasters are
predicting that the spring will bring drier weather and, in
turn, lead to drought developing or deepening across much of
the state. … Across the Colorado River basin, “winter
snowpack in the Colorado Rockies usually sets the tone for
drought conditions from year to year,” according to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Snowpack
from the Upper Basin constitutes the majority of the Colorado
River’s water supply, acting as a reservoir, said John
Berggren, the regional policy manager for Western Resource
Advocates.
Other snowpack and water supply news across the West:
Klamath County in Oregon and Siskiyou and Modoc counties in
California (Tri-Counties) announced Friday that the Bureau of
Reclamation is anticipating a full allocation from Upper
Klamath Lake to support the Klamath Project. The Klamath
Project would provide water to about 240,000 acres of cropland
in south central Oregon and north central California. A news
release from the Tri-Counties on Friday said the project would
help agricultural communities by providing resources to
irrigators and the greater Klamath Watershed.
President Donald Trump keeps telling a story about how he sent
fire-plagued Los Angeles the critical water he says
California’s leaders foolishly refused to provide. But the
story, which Trump delivered in an especially colorful form at
the White House on Thursday, is not true. The 2 billion-plus
gallons of water Trump had released from two dams in
California’s Central Valley agricultural hub in late January
and early February did not actually go to Los Angeles. In
reality, the water was directed to a dry lake basin elsewhere
in the Central Valley – more than 100 miles north of Los
Angeles.
A settlement could be on the horizon in the long-running legal
battle over the waters of the Rio Grande nearly a year after
the Supreme Court rejected a previous deal, according to new
court documents. The states engaged in Texas v. New Mexico and
Colorado and the federal government revealed their progress
during a status hearing late last month before federal Judge D.
Brooks Smith. “The parties expressed optimism that they had
identified a path toward settlement,” wrote Smith, a George W.
Bush appointee. “They explained, however, that more work needed
to be done, especially with regard to aspects of any potential
agreement which will require input and advice from technical
experts.”
A march in the mostly dry Kern River bed from the Panorama
bluffs eight miles west to the Bellevue Weir started with about
30 people and gained steam to end with about 130 marchers,
according to organizers. “It was successful for what we wanted
to do,” said Chris Molina, an organizer with the public
interest group Bring Back the Kern. “What we wanted was to get
media attention as a last-minute rallying cry to hopefully put
pressure on the court to lean in favor of a flowing river. And
the event exceeded our expectations.” He referred to a hearing
scheduled for Thursday, March 20 before the 5th District Court
of Appeals in Fresno on whether to uphold a preliminary
injunction issued by Kern County Superior Court Gregory
Pulskamp in October 2023 mandating the City of Bakersfield keep
enough water in the river for fish to survive.
The long-awaited California State Water Resources Control Board
hearing expected to occur in 2025 will be a critical moment for
reviewing the significant environmental issues tied to the Los
Angeles Department of Water & Power’s (DWP) water exports in
the Mono Basin. However, as the Mono Lake Committee prepares
for that hearing, another important environmental review
process is occurring simultaneously. There are three Mono Basin
hydropower projects currently under review, and though their
effects are very different from the issues associated with
DWP’s water exports, they have important long-term implications
for stream health.
Small water and wastewater utilities would get a boost to their
cybersecurity defenses under a bipartisan Senate bill that a
pair of lawmakers re-introduced Thursday. Sens. Catherine
Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., are taking
another swing at the Cybersecurity for Rural Water Systems Act
after the legislation stalled out in the 118th Congress. The
bill would update and expand the Department of Agriculture’s
Circuit Rider Program, which provides technical assistance to
rural water systems. The lawmakers’ legislation calls on the
program to develop protocols to bolster water systems’ cyber
defenses and provide additional aid to improve
protections.
In recognition of Groundwater Awareness Week, it’s incredible
to think about the tremendous work California has accomplished
since our legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) in 2014. Work that wouldn’t have been
possible without the partnership and effort of over 250 local
Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs). To our partners,
thank you for your time and dedication to writing over 100
groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) that protect drinking
water wells, reduce land sinking, and improve groundwater
supplies for our communities. –Written by By Paul Gosselin, DWR Deputy Director for
Sustainable Water Management
A bank is suing large San Joaquin Valley grower John Vidovich
for more than $105 million in allegedly defaulted loans and is
demanding the foreclosure and sale of large swaths of farmland,
solar sites, a nut-hulling facility and the SunnyGem almond
processing plant in Wasco. Affected lands could span
Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties, according to three
volumes of exhibits in the lawsuit, which was filed March 12 in
Kern. … Vidovich has been a controversial figure in the
valley since 2009 when he permanently sold State Water
Project contract rights to 14,000 acre feet from the
Dudley Ridge Water District in Kings County to a southern
California district for $73 million.
In an effort to support its new brackish desalination
plant and other improvements, water rates in Antioch
are set to rise after the city council on Tuesday approved a
new five-year plan. Starting May 1, the cost of water will
increase as much as 7% annually for a single-family home and
then potentially rise further over a five-year period. The
Antioch City Council approved the rate jump in a 4-1 vote.
Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker was the lone no
vote. … According to a staff report, the new brackish
desalination plant that is expected to start operating within
the next few months requires increased personnel and
maintenance costs.
About 80 people gathered Monday in the historic Aromas
Community Grange after the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR) selected the Pajaro River Watershed as one of
five watersheds to pilot the Watershed Resilience Program. The
initiative, which is supported by a $2 million grant from DWR
and administered by Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, will
help the watershed prepare for the ongoing effects of climate
change.
San Diego Coastkeeper’s first annual report on Mission Bay’s
water quality shows persistently high levels of bacteria,
copper, and phosphorus in both dry and wet weather, often at
levels exceeding safe state water quality standards for public
recreation and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. … The environmental
watchdog’s initial 2024 Mission Bay Water Quality Monitoring
Report summarizes a year of monthly water monitoring data at
locations around Mission Bay. … Following their November
2024 notice of intent to sue (NOI), San Diego Coastkeeper and
the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation (CERF), represented
by Coast Law Group, have filed a citizen suit enforcement case
against SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. and SeaWorld LLC
for Clean Water Act violations.
Real estate in San Mateo County is among the most valuable in
the United States. Even small parcels can fetch millions. Yet,
in East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood Business District, acres of land
sit empty, their potential unrealized. At first glance,
these vacant lots appear to be prime real estate — offering
stunning views of the Diablo Range to the east and the Santa
Cruz Mountains to the west, with the San Francisco Bay Trail
hugging the area’s eastern edge. But beneath the surface,
remnants of the area’s industrial past linger. Arsenic,
lead, cadmium, volatile organic compounds, and oil contaminate
the soil and groundwater, rendering much of the
district uninhabitable until extensive remediation is complete.
The recent Fresnoland article on the proposed CEMEX mining
project in Fresno County raises several important issues but
misrepresents the San Joaquin River Conservancy, its role, and
its capabilities. … I want to clarify that the Conservancy is a
state agency with a clear mission: to develop the San Joaquin
River Parkway, to create public access to the river corridor,
and conserve lands either owned by the Conservancy or through
willing partnerships. Importantly, the Conservancy is neither a
political organization nor a regulatory body. It does not
govern land use decisions outside of its jurisdiction, nor is
it empowered to block private development projects, such as the
CEMEX mine. –Written by Bobby Macaulay, District 5 Supervisor for
Madera County and chair of the San Joaquin River
Conservancy.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signaled it could
narrow which set of waters receive protections under the Clean
Water Act — and will narrow protections for wetlands in
the meantime. The law requires the EPA to protect
so-called “waters of the United States,” but there has been
significant political back-and-forth as to which bodies of
water that should include. In a press release on Wednesday, EPA
Administrator Lee Zeldin criticized the Biden administration’s
definition, saying it “placed unfair burdens on the American
people and drove up the cost of doing business.”
