In California water news today, Lawmakers fault oversight of half-century old dam; State officials get slammed for the Oroville Dam spillway failure at Sacramento hearing; Oroville spillway: Another round of questions for water leaders working on repairs; Will Trump reimburse California for Oroville Dam? It may come down to pre-existing conditions; Hatchery mishap kills 300,000 baby salmon. What will this mean for fishermen?; Wine country looking more like cannabis country in California; In Napa County, vineyards and conservationists battle for the hills; Valley sinking due to groundwater depletion; threat to aqueduct remains; and more …
In the news today …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
Lawmakers fault oversight of half-century old dam: “California lawmakers blasted state water officials Thursday for their oversight of the half-century-old dam that anchors the state’s water system, in a hearing focusing on the design problems and aging that contributed to the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people downstream. “This frightens me, that this was built in this manner,” state Assemblyman Jim Frazier, a Democrat, and an engineer by training, told the state officials overseeing the Oroville Dam, the nation’s tallest. Frazier cited post-crisis inspection reports of concrete as thin as the width of the palm of a hand on Oroville’s main spillway. “We have some things we need to address so this doesn’t happen again.” … ” Read more from SF Gate here: Lawmakers fault oversight of half-century old dam
State officials get slammed for the Oroville Dam spillway failure at Sacramento hearing: “The California Department of Water Resources came under blistering criticism at a hearing Thursday in the Legislature for its management of the Oroville Dam, three months after nearby residents were evacuated out of concerns about possible flooding. State dam officials reminded the critics that no one had died and that people’s property had been protected even as water that was released during a historic storm in February virtually washed away the dam’s 3,000-foot spillway. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: State officials get slammed for the Oroville Dam spillway failure at Sacramento hearing
Oroville spillway: Another round of questions for water leaders working on repairs: “If a fresh look had been taken at Oroville Dam — any time between 50 years ago and last year — could the breakup of the spillway have been avoided? Is enough being done to ensure that work done today will keep the communities downstream of the dam safe? Should the Department of Water Resources remain in charge of the dam in the future? On Thursday, members of the state Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife Accountability asked questions of state water leaders during a three-hour hearing on the Oroville Dam spillway damage and reconstruction plans. … ” Read more from the Oroville Mercury Register here: Oroville spillway: Another round of questions for water leaders working on repairs
Will Trump reimburse California for Oroville Dam? It may come down to pre-existing conditions: “The amount of money Donald Trump’s administration reimburses California for repairs to Oroville Dam could depend on whether the state properly maintained the dam’s spillway prior to it crumbling this winter, a state water official told lawmakers Thursday. “Was this deferred maintenance?” Bill Croyle, the acting director of the state Department of Water Resources, told members of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. “Is there a maintenance issue here because they’re not going to cover that. If it’s an emergency response, they’re going to cover.” ... ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Will Trump reimburse California for Oroville Dam? It may come down to pre-existing conditions
Hatchery mishap kills 300,000 baby salmon. What will this mean for fishermen? “As many as 300,000 baby salmon died Wednesday inside the temporary holding ponds they’d been staying in since the Oroville Dam crisis in early February. The Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday that the fall-run Chinook died when water flowing to the fish stopped. State officials blamed a faulty wire for switching off a pump at the Thermalito hatchery. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Hatchery mishap kills 300,000 baby salmon. What will this mean for fishermen?
Wine country looking more like cannabis country in California: “The grapevines that line rolling hillsides and sweeping valleys in Northern California’s wine country have become iconic – a symbol of the region’s rustic charm that helped California earn its reputation as a world-class wine and food destination. But winegrapes have new competition: weed. California’s legalization of recreational marijuana has led to the beginning of a major transformation of wine country. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Wine country looking more like cannabis country in California
In Napa County, vineyards and conservationists battle for the hills: “Kellie Anderson stands in the understory of a century-old forest in eastern Napa County, about 70 miles north of San Francisco. To her left is a creek gully, a rush of the water audible through the thick riparian brush. The large trees here provide a home for deer, mountain lions, and endangered spotted owls, while the stream supports the last remnants of the Napa River watershed’s nearly extinct steelhead trout. “They want to take all of this out,” says Anderson, who sits on the steering committee of a local environmental organization, Save Rural Angwin, named for a community in the renowned wine country of the Napa Valley. She is studying a project-planning map of the area as she waves her free arm toward the wooded upward slope. “It looks like this will be the edge of a block of vines,” she says. ... ” Read more from Yale 360 here: In Napa County, vineyards and conservationists battle for the hills
Valley sinking due to groundwater depletion; threat to aqueduct remains: “With rivers, creeks, lakes and reservoirs full to overflowing, it’s tempting for Californians to breathe a sigh of relief and stop worrying about water conservation. One season of heavy rainfall was enough to wash away the surface drought. The drought we’re still in is for the water we can’t see underneath the surface: groundwater. Years of digging deep to draw water to the surface had left groundwater severely depleted, and the end result is subsidence — or sinking of the ground. Some parts of the Central Valley sank 28 feet between 1925 and 1977 because of excessive pumping, according to Dr. Joseph Poland, a pioneer in land subsidence. In earlier days, pumping was the only way for Central Valley farmers and residents to get water during the long stretches of drought to which California is prone. … ” Read more from ABC 10 here: Valley sinking due to groundwater depletion; threat to aqueduct remains
In regional news and commentary today …
Pump failure kills Fall-Run chinook salmon at Feather River hatchery: “An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 fall-run Chinook salmon were killed early yesterday morning at the Feather River Fish Hatchery – Thermalito Facility due to a pump failure from a faulty wire. More than two million remaining salmon at the facility will be released over the next month as they reach an appropriate size. Overnight on May 10, 2017, the primary pump supplying well water to the facility failed, drastically reducing the water supply to the hatchery raceways. … ” Read more from the Department of Fish and Wildlife here: Pump failure kills Fall-Run chinook salmon at Feather River hatchery
Work on wells will continue in Vacaville: “The city will continue work to comply with new state water quality standards after a judge’s ruling that the state did not conduct an economic feasibility analysis of the drinking water standard as required by law, Vacaville’s utilities director said. Royce Cunningham said Thursday that the Sacramento County Superior Court decision May 5 involved the judge telling state officials “they didn’t do all their homework.” ... ” Read more from the Daily Republic here: Work on wells will continue in Vacaville
Delta levees still at risk from water-heavy snowpack: “While the levees in the Delta are currently intact, heavy warm rains accompanied by increased temperatures in the spring and early summer could cause further damage. ... ” Read more at the Delta Confluence here: Delta levees still at risk from water-heavy snowpack
Cooler summer for San Francisco? Ocean temperatures offer one clue: “The ocean temperatures off the coast of Northern California are below normal and this could be one piece of evidence in a big, complicated puzzle signaling a cold summer for San Francisco. “The fact that we already have cool water in place, that would be one check box in the ‘It’s going to possibly be a cooler summer’ forecast,” says Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services. “There are lots of check boxes besides the sea surface temperature. This is just one indicator.” … ” Read more from SF Gate here: Cooler summer for San Francisco? Ocean temperatures offer one clue
Lawsuit filed over timing of releases from Twitchell Reservoir: “Two Central Coast environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District in an effort to improve habitat for local endangered fish. The groups said they want to change the way the district releases water into the Santa Maria River watershed from the Twitchell Dam to help save the endangered Southern California steelhead trout from extinction. The National Marine Fisheries Service listed the southern steelhead as an endangered species in 1997. … ” Read more from KCBX here: Lawsuit filed over timing of releases from Twitchell Reservoir
Modesto Irrigation District: Water, water everywhere; why not try selling some? “Modesto Irrigation District leaders who strained to provide farmers with miserly amounts of water in recent drought years now have more than they know what to do with. So on Tuesday, the MID board agreed to offer surplus water this year to farmers just outside district borders, at about $50 an acre-foot. An office staff proposal was based on fears that pumping to feed millions of young almond trees on the Valley’s east side could threaten the groundwater table. Offering some Tuolumne River water to growers there could reduce that pumping while boosting the aquifer as crop water seeps down, the theory goes. … ” Read more from the Modesto Irrigation District here: Modesto Irrigation District: Water, water everywhere; why not try selling some?
Fresno: Farm fights water district over elections: “A Fresno County farming company sued its water district this week, claiming the district knows it uses an unfair system to elect the water board but refuses to change it. “The goal of this lawsuit is to achieve an equitable system that is compatible with the Constitution, so all landowners are given their proper voting rights,” Turk Station LLC’s attorney Brian Whelan said of the lawsuit against Westlands Water District interview. “Westland is going in the right direction, but they needed an extra push before they could get the issue resolved,” Whelan said in an interview. … ” Read more from Courthouse News here: Fresno: Farm fights water district over elections
Santa Clarita: LAFCO rejects water agency bill: “County commissioners who last month opposed Senator Scott Wilk’s Senate Bill calling for the creation of one new all-encompassing water district for the SCV because it did not include them, have sent the senator back to the drawing board a second time. Thursday’s vote opposing the bill and calling for more revisions came despite amendments made to the latest version that spells out their inclusion. ... ” Read more from the Santa Clarita Signal here: LAFCO rejects water agency bill
‘Attention in the water: You are paddleboarding next to … 15 great white sharks’: ““Attention in the water: This is the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.… You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks.” That was the chilling alert a sheriff’s chopper blared at swimmers and paddleboarders on Wednesday as it hovered above the waters off Capistrano Beach in Dana Point and San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente — the site of a shark attack two weeks ago. Relaying a request from state parks officials, the deputy then urged the swimmers to leave the ocean. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: ‘Attention in the water: You are paddleboarding next to … 15 great white sharks
San Diego will recycle sewage into drinking water, mayor declares: “Within five years, San Diegans will be sipping and bathing in water recycled from sewage, city officials declared Wednesday. A deal between local environmental groups and city officials to pursue a plan known as Pure Water San Diego, in lieu of upgrades to an aging wastewater treatment facility, seems to be coming to fruition after more than two decades of brainstorming, formal planning and small-scale testing of water purification technologies. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune here: San Diego will recycle sewage into drinking water, mayor declares
San Diego will drink water recycled from sewage. Cheers, says the San Diego Union Tribune: “The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board used to be among the skeptics who maligned “toilet to tap” — the purification of sewage for regular water uses — and questioned a proposal by local officials on health and cost grounds. Then six years ago we changed our minds with an editorial headlined, “The yuck factor: Get over it.” The science is clear that such water is safe. And history is clear that California is deeply vulnerable to droughts, and that the San Diego region must diversify supplies, given the capricious history of its main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. ... ” Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune here: San Diego will drink water recycled from sewage. Cheers.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
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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.
