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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Roughly a half-dozen agencies, governments and a nonprofit
group have filed briefs with a state regulator that could
determine whether or not California American Water Co. gets the
OK for its years-long effort to build a desalination plant on
the Monterey Peninsula. The issue comes down to whether the
peninsula will have enough water to meet the demand for the
next three decades by tapping into recycled water, or whether a
desal plant will be needed. Administrative Law Judge Robert
Haga will examine the April 30 filings, render an up-or-down
proposed ruling and ship it off to the five-member California
Public Utilities Commission to vote on. In late 2022, Cal Am
won the hearts of the California Coastal Commission when the
12-member appointed body approved a permit allowing Cal Am, an
investor-owned utility, to move forward with the desal plant in
Marina. But for Cal Am, it was a double-edged sword.
[Last] week, the state of California stuck a shovel in the
third of four hydroelectric dams being demolished on the
Klamath River, which wends its way through Northern California
from Oregon to the Pacific. Removing those structures is the
first step in the most ambitious experiment in nature
restoration in American history. The goal is to save wild
salmon, a once-abundant resource that anchored the region’s
economy and shaped its Indigenous societies. … Yet more than
fisheries may be renewed. The project marks another example of
rethinking humanity’s relationship with nature at a turning
point in global environmental welfare.
A long-running legal battle over stopping invasive aquatic
weeds from spreading through Tahoe Keys, a man-made lagoon and
wetlands system that feeds into Lake Tahoe, hit a turning point
[last] week after a Superior Court judge halted a controversial
weed-control project. [Weeds] have plagued the Tahoe Keys
lagoons for decades following the subdivision’s construction in
the 1960s on top of what was once a large wetlands environment
at the southern end of Lake Tahoe. The plants have
since grown out of control and significantly impacted
the 163 acres of waterways that make up the lagoon
system.
Tim’s story unfolds with his entry into the rice industry back
in 1996, when he assumed the role of Marketing Projects
Coordinator for the California Rice Promotion Board. Tasked
with promoting rice both domestically and internationally, Tim
quickly found himself immersed in the intricacies of the
industry. Little did he know that this role would mark the
beginning of a lifetime career in California rice production
and agriculture. A pivotal moment in Tim’s career came with the
formation of the California Rice Commission a few
years later, where he was appointed as its first executive.
This transition, as Tim fondly recalls, marked a significant
milestone in his professional trajectory—a journey that began
with humble beginnings, including his days working on a
Frito-Lay truck right out of college.
With squeals, shrieks and plenty of peer pressure, Palisade
High School students lined up to release endangered razorback
suckers — with a kiss for good luck — into the Colorado River.
“Grab a fish, kiss it, put it in the river,” Charlotte Allen,
18, a senior at the high school, told amped up students as they
prepared to hold the slippery fish. The school’s
endangered fish hatchery, which began in 2020, released its
thousandth razorback sucker Friday during its annual release
celebration. The program is part of a greater effort to restore
populations of the native fish — an effort that helps pull
water west in Colorado to benefit ecosystems, farmers,
communities and industries along the Colorado River.
The City of Malibu on April 25 hosted the North Santa Monica
Bay State of the Watershed, an impressive meeting coordinated
by Melina Watts, the watershed coordinator for Safe, Clean
Water LA. Attendees at the large gathering included
various water experts and policy officials; city engineers;
water quality professionals; watershed
coordinators; state, county, and municipal elected
officials; and public policy professionals who administer
various programs that address water policy
and representative from public works departments in
Los Angeles County, Malibu, Calabasas City, Westlake Village,
Hidden Hills, and Agoura Hills. The gathering’s central
purpose was for the attendees to inform one another of their
efforts by providing status updates concerning the many water
policy issues and programs that cover the vast area encompassed
within the North Santa Monica Bay Watershed. -Written by local freelance writer Barbara
Burke.
[T]here’s an undercurrent of doom these days in the North Bay
fisher community that might dampen the celebration. That’s
because federal officials are reportedly about to declare that
no one will be allowed to catch any salmon off the California
coast this year, for the second year in a row. … Local
salmon populations are in the pits right now, due to years of
drought and low flows in local waterways — made worse, of
course, by human diversions and dams. … On the upside:
Many hundreds of millions more state dollars are being
invested right now into restoring salmon habitats across
California. There are also huge
American-Indian efforts underway to introduce more
salmon back into rotation, especially up north in the Klamath
River area.
President Biden on Thursday expanded San Gabriel Mountains
National Monument by nearly a third in an action that was
widely praised by the Indigenous leaders, politicians,
conservationists and community organizers who had long fought
for the enlargement of the protected natural area that serves
as the backyard of the Los Angeles Basin. … Stretching
from Santa Clarita to San Bernardino, the San Gabriel Mountains
watershed provides Los Angeles County with 70% of its open
space and roughly 30% of its water. The added protections
will help ensure equitable access to the San Gabriels’ cool
streams and rugged canyons while also preserving clean air and
water.
Winter-like weather will make a brief return to California this
weekend, with widespread snow in the Sierra Nevada. The
National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories
for much of the Sierra, including Donner Pass, the Tahoe
Basin and Yosemite National Park. The spring snowmaker will add
fresh powder in some locations, boosting an already healthy
snowpack.
Tribes that use the Colorado River want a say in negotiations
that will reshape how the river’s water is shared. Eighteen of
those tribes signed on to a letter sent to the Bureau of
Reclamation, the federal agency that will finalize new rules
for managing the river after 2026, when the current guidelines
expire. In the memo, tribal leaders urge the federal government
to protect their access to water and uphold long-standing legal
responsibilities. … The tribes’ letter aims to make sure
that Indigenous people, who used the Colorado River before
white settlers ever occupied the Western U.S., are not
left behind as Reclamation considers those proposals. “If you
are not at the table, you are on the menu,” Jay Weiner, a water
lawyer for the Quechan Indian Tribe, said. Weiner, who helped
craft the letter, said it aims to answer the complicated
question: What do tribes want?
Governor Gavin Newsom, with the support of the Department of
Water Resources (DWR) and other state agencies, signed into
effect new developments for the California Water Plan which
details water conservation efforts for the next five
years. Newsom said that the state has invested $9 billion
in the last three years, and that “I want folks to know that we
are not just victims of fate, that we recognize the world we’re
living in.” Recognizing that California will be
operating with ten percent less water in 2040 than what is
currently available, Newsom said “We put out a hotter, drier
strategy” to offset the loss. This includes plans for improving
water security, desalinization plants, stormwater capture,
water recycling, and new strategies for large-scale
conveyance.
Grand County and Northern Water have struck a deal that will
send more water running down Western Slope streams to benefit
farmers, boaters and the environment. Grand County in northern
Colorado is home to nearly 16,000 people, part of Rocky
Mountain National Park and the headwaters of the Colorado
River. Each year, four major diversion tunnels take up to
350,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water out of the county and
push it east to the Front Range. Now, the county and the water
provider are agreeing to release water in the opposite
direction, to the west.
The state legislature has mandated that water conservation
become “a California way of life.” This may sound simple, but
converting these words into reality — with tailored local
reduction targets for over 400 water agencies that deliver
water to most Californians each and every year — is proving to
be hard work for regulators. Getting this right, even if it
takes some extra time, is what matters. … As designed,
however, our analysis showed that the water savings would be
modest while the costs would be high. And, most troubling, we
found that the proposed regulations would hit low-income,
inland communities the hardest. That’s why we suggested that
the State Water Board revisit these rules. -Written by Ellen Hanak and David
Mitchell with the Public Policy Institute of California
Water Policy Center.
For the past 101 years, the cows on [the Mulas Dairy
farm] near San Pablo Bay were milked twice a day. In
recent years, that meant you’d hear the loud hum of vacuum
pumps running from midnight to 7 a.m. and again from noon to 7
p.m. … [Farm president Mike] Mulas was standing near a
drainage ditch on the east side of his 800-acre Schellville
property. The shallow stormwater trench runs through part of
the farm and empties into a field, not far from a network of
creeks that flow into San Pablo Bay. It was a major point of
contention in a lawsuit filed over alleged water quality
violations in early 2023. … For the North Bay’s
struggling dairy industry, it could also be read as another
signpost of the new era. In an age where some environmental
groups take to the courts in higher numbers, going after farms
they allege are polluting surrounding watersheds, many
struggling family farms simply can’t put up a fight anymore.
2023 was the planet’s warmest year on record, coming
in 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average.
But California bucked the trend. The state overall was just 0.8
degrees above the 1991-2020 average; some places had near- to
below-average temperatures. There’s a 55% chance that 2024 will
be even warmer than 2023, according to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. And for now, California is
expected to be in line with this projection. Seasonal outlooks
show that the United States will be warmer than average this
summer, though pinpointing exactly how hot is a challenge.
Rising temperatures in California in late summer and into fall
could prime conditions for potential wildfires.
Workers have begun dismantling the largest dam on the Klamath
River … Several Indigenous leaders and activists watched as a
single earthmover tore into the top of Iron Gate Dam, starting
a pivotal phase in the largest dam removal project in U.S.
history. As they celebrated the long-awaited moment, they
shouted, embraced and offered prayers. They said they hope to
see the river’s salmon, which have suffered devastating
declines, finally start to recover once Iron Gate and two other
dams are fully removed later this year.
On the surface, Victoria by the Bay is a charming neighborhood
of 926 homes only a short walk from the shores of San Pablo
Bay. But the ground beneath the roughly 200-acre
development was once home to the former Pacific Refinery Co., a
facility built in 1966 that produced 55,000 barrels of oil
daily and stored other hazardous substances in the northernmost
corner of Hercules, adjacent to Rodeo.
Did you know packaging, most of it plastic, makes up more than
50% of what California dumps in landfills? … Single-use
plastics accumulate in landfills and break down into
microplastics that pollute air, food, water and our bodies.
… We must address plastic production and emissions at
the source.
Lake Tahoe watercraft inspection stations are open for the
season to help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species
and boaters can now book an appointment for this summer online,
announced the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the Tahoe
Resource Conservation District. With the discovery last year of
invasive New Zealand mudsnails in Lake Tahoe, the agencies are
urging boaters, paddlers, beachgoers, and anglers to learn how
to prevent the spread of this new threat.
Did you know Phoenix is home to wetlands? Located near 91st
Avenue and Broadway, lies a haven of biodiversity and
tranquility not usually found in the desert. The Tres Rios
Wetlands spans 700 acres of water and features a unique
ecosystem unlike anything in the Valley. From rare bird species
to lush vegetation, this hidden gem showcases seven miles of
hiking trails. … The recycled water goes through an
extensive cleaning process and then makes its way to Tres Rios,
providing an ecosystem for all kinds of fish like bass,
catfish, and tilapia. There are also numerous water-loving
plants you won’t see anywhere else in the state naturally.
