In California water news this weekend, Silicon Valley’s mission to save California ag from dying of thirst; North Coast lawmakers urge Brown to declare statewide salmon disaster; Fluctuating Feather hurting fish habitat; The state of our dams; The drought is over. So why is California’s wildfire risk growing?; USBR awards funds for fish passage solutions; States move to roll back environmental rules in Trump’s wake; and more …
In the news this weekend …
Silicon Valley’s mission to save California ag from dying of thirst: “When George McFadden sits at his computer to analyze crop photos, he looks like a doctor pointing out trouble spots on an X-ray. He identifies unnatural lines, “blob-like” patterns, and streaks clouding a field. All can indicate a troubling diagnosis. “Can you see these little dots?” McFadden asks, pointing at a thermal shot of a tomato field that has suffered from a defective irrigation system. The dots on the image revealed that the system’s drip line had tears in it, he says. Watering the field became “like taking a straw, putting a bunch of pinholes in it, and trying to pump water through it.” The tomato grower used the image to show the manufacturer that the irrigation line was defective. … ” Read more from WIRED Magazine here: Silicon Valley’s mission to save California ag from dying of thirst
North Coast lawmakers urge Brown to declare statewide salmon disaster: “This week, North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown urging him to declare a statewide salmon fishery disaster. Previously, California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) also sent a letter along with 17 other members of Congress to House and Senate leaders on Wednesday requesting they include disaster relief funds for nine West Coast crab and salmon fisheries within a government spending bill this month. … ” Read more from the Eureka Times-Standard here: North Coast lawmakers urge Brown to declare statewide salmon disaster
Fluctuating Feather hurting fish habitat: “The head of the Nor-Cal Guides and Sportsmen’s Association wants the Department of Water Resources to rethink how it manages releases out of Lake Oroville and charged the state department’s operations in the past few months were irresponsible. James Stone said DWR’s fluctuating releases out of Lake Oroville have been so extreme, Feather River flows over the past few months have crippled portions of the levee system, flooded and ruined orchards, raised the riverbed from sediment buildup and killed a large number of fish migrating up the channel. ... ” Read more from the Appeal-Democrat here: Fluctuating Feather hurting fish habitat
The state of our dams: “From their homes, San Joaquin County residents cannot see the dozen-plus large dams that stand between them and a mammoth melting snowpack. But every day that the lowlands stay dry is a reminder that those dams exist and are doing their job, protecting hundreds of thousands of people and billions of dollars worth of crops and property. The near-catastrophe at Oroville Dam appears to have shaken the public’s confidence in dams. And not without cause. Most of California’s dams and weirs are at least 60 years old, infrastructure wears down over time, and future storms altered by climate change are expected to test our dams like never before. … ” Read more from the Stockton Record here: The state of our dams
The drought is over. So why is California’s wildfire risk growing? “The drought is over, but that doesn’t mean the end of calamity for Northern California. The abundance of rain and snow could produce more wildfires and drownings, officials say. Fires already have burned nearly 10 times as much territory statewide as they did during the same period of 2016. And while forecasters say the record winter rainfall could delay the outbreak of major fires until July or August, it has also fed large swaths of grass, shrubs and other fire fuels that will soon begin drying out in the warmer weather. “Just because the drought is over doesn’t mean the fire danger’s gone,” said Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean. ... ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: The drought is over. So why is California’s wildfire risk growing?
USBR awards funds for fish passage solutions: “The US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has awarded prizes totaling $20,000 to four submissions as part of its downstream fish passage at tall dams’ prize competition. Briana Connors of Cincinnati, Ohio, won the first prize of $10,000., with the remaining three prizes sharing $10,000. Connors’ submission utilized a drag conveyor to pass fish downstream. The system may offer continuous and rapid transport and may manage pressure within the chambers, minimizing the trauma to the fish. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2014 with degrees in Chemical Engineering and now works as a process engineer working on mineral processing systems. … ” Read more from Water, Power, and Dam Construction here: USBR awards funds for fish passage solutions
States move to roll back environmental rules in Trump’s wake: “Emboldened by the environmental rollbacks of President Donald Trump, state legislatures are following suit, taking aim at items as varied as solar incentives, chemical spill protections and even anti-pipeline protesters. The legislation in states from Florida to Wisconsin comes as the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump argues that it can curtail federal regulations, leaving it up to states to decide how to protect against pollution. Shifting the burden to state capitals allows industry lobbyists to divide and conquer their foes, pitting one state’s deregulation against another’s. … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: States move to roll back environmental rules in Trump’s wake
In commentary this weekend …
Legislation provides a choice between two water futures: Einer Maisch writes, “Last week, the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee in Sacramento held a hearing on several bills that represented two different visions for future water use in California. One vision, embodied in AB 968 (Rubio) and supported Placer County Water Agency, would establish new long-term water use efficiency targets for water agencies, and their customers, taking into account local conditions, established water rights, and past investments. The other vision, proposed by the Brown Administration and reflected in accompanying legislation, would transfer unchecked authority to the unelected State Water Resources Control Board to set permanent conservation standards, and ratchet them down over time, regardless of local conditions. It is the typical “one-size fits all” approach we are accustomed to from Sacramento. ... ” Read more from the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association here: Legislation provides a choice between two water futures
In regional news and commentary this weekend …
DWR officials say they can finally push through ORAC projects: “State Department of Water Resources officials announced Friday a series of recreational projects the Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee, or ORAC, has requested for decades are finally plausible because of the spotlight on the dam. Improvements to the following areas were proposed … ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record here: DWR officials say they can finally push through ORAC projects
Rio Vista Estuarine Research Station reaches milestones, but permits pending: “Despite completing several major steps for the Estuarine Research Station at the Rio Vista Army Base, federal funding remains a question mark. … ” Continue reading at the Delta Confluence here: Rio Vista Estuarine Research Station reaches milestones, but permits pending
Sharks are dying by the hundreds in San Francisco Bay: “Hundreds of leopard sharks and bat rays have washed up dead or dying on the San Francisco Bay shoreline this spring, the second year in a row of mass elasmobranch death in the Bay and the third major die-off in the last six years. But for the first time since an unusual shark stranding was first reported in the East Bay a half-century ago, scientists say they’re close to an explanation. “I look at it as a 50-year-old shark murder mystery, and we are hopefully closing in on the killer,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife senior fish pathologist Mark Okihiro, who has led the stranding investigation. … ” Read more from Bay Nature here: Sharks are dying by the hundreds in San Francisco Bay
San Joaquin County river levels expected to remain high: “High water levels along rivers and in reservoirs are keeping emergency management teams on alert. Flooding in San Joaquin County has already caused millions of dollars worth of damage. Bill Lindstedt is finally getting the chance to walk back into the Manteca Sportsmen Club, a shooting range that was complete underwater after recent storms hit Northern California. “Well, this year was pretty bad,” he said. ... ” Read more from CBS Sacramento here: San Joaquin County river levels expected to remain high
Merced River to start receding in Yosemite, but some flooding still possible: “Minor flooding continued in Yosemite National Park Saturday as the Merced River rose above flood stage in one stretch, the result of melting snow in the Sierra. A flood warning issued by the National Weather Service continued to be in force at the Pohono Bridge. As of 8 a.m., the river was at 11 feet at the bridge. Flood stage is 10 feet. … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: Merced River to start receding in Yosemite, but some flooding still possible
Mammoth snowmelt making rivers so dangerous that ‘if you fall in, you’re done’: “The deaths of five people in two Tulare County rivers in less than a month are prompting officials to warn the public about the dangers of rushing water fed by the heavy snowpack now melting in the Sierra. “Stay away from the river’s edge, and don’t enter the water,” said Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux. Starting Thursday, the sheriff’s office restricted access to the Tule River, with the restrictions to last for several weeks until the swift water recedes. ... ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: Mammoth snowmelt making rivers so dangerous that ‘if you fall in, you’re done’
Water Replenishment District’s wastewater plant halfway finished, rising from a 5-acre field in Pico Rivera: “Robb Whitaker walked the wooden bridge suspended above an underground reservoir four stories deep filled with 3 million gallons of treated sewage water. He liked what he saw during a VIP tour Friday: a half-finished, $107-million water-recycling plant that will treat that water three more times, enough to replenish two ground water basins and remove the district from the list of buyers of Northern California and Colorado River water for the first time in its nearly 60-year history. … ” Read more from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune here: Water Replenishment District’s wastewater plant halfway finished, rising from a 5-acre field in Pico Rivera
Inland Empire: Low groundwater levels mean water worries not behind us, says Jeffrey Armstrong: He writes, “The drought emergency may be over, but our water supply worries are not. When Gov. Jerry Brown lifted mandatory conservation orders across most of the state in April, he closed the book on a sobering chapter in California history. His action marked the end of cutbacks that began in 2014. … But don’t be fooled. Below the surface, in groundwater basins, the effects of extreme drought persist. The water held underground in layers of rock and soil serves as a water savings account for dry times. Right now, that account is low. And that means we all need to be concerned. … ” Read more from the Riverside Press-Enterprise here: Low groundwater levels mean water worries not behind us
Single family homes killed LA’s urban forest: “Plant a tree, save the world? Maybe, but preventing the chopping down of trees for single-family home add-ons or the paving of shrubbery for driveways and other “hardscaped” property features would go a lot further, say researchers with the USC Spatial Sciences Institute. In the Los Angeles area, green cover for single-family home lots declined anywhere from 14 to 55 percent, with almost no single area spared from the decline, according to a study published online in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening by a team of researchers led by USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences lecturer in spatial sciences Su Jin Lee and including USC Dornsife and USC School of Architecture Assistant Professor Travis Longcore. … ” Read more from Science Daily here: Single family homes killed LA’s urban forest
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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.
Maven’s Notebook
where California water news never goes home for the weekend
