In California water news this weekend, Desert farmers reap millions selling water to cities; Letting GSAs or State decide sustainability; New report shares how California can map out, invest in state’s valuable working landscapes; More ink, less water: News coverage of the drought prompted Californians to conserve, study suggests; NASA ends trailblazing satellite mission that revealed global groundwater trends; and more …
In the news this weekend …
Desert farmers reap millions selling water to cities: “Over the past 12 years, the country’s biggest urban water agency has paid farmers about $190 million not to grow crops on thousands of acres near the Colorado River in the Palo Verde Valley. The water has gone to Los Angeles and other cities across Southern California, and in return, the farmers who’ve left some of their lands unplanted have been able to count on additional income. Records released by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California show the agency has paid millions of dollars to the biggest landowners in the area, including several board members of the Palo Verde Irrigation District who originally voted to approve the deal in 2004. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun here: Desert farmers reap millions selling water to cities
Letting GSAs or State decide sustainability: “Local groundwater sustainability agencies, also known as GSAs are quickly being developed to draw out specific plans on how to prevent groundwater overdraft in the areas of the state, particularly in the central San Joaquin Valley. It’s all part of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) that could forever change the face of agriculture, as we know it today. Keith Freitas farms lemons on the east side of Fresno County, and he knows of many farmers that are getting together to fight SGMA. “They’re going to take it to the courts and the judicial. They’ll be filing injunctive orders,” Freitas said. … ” Read more from California Ag Today here: Letting GSAs or State decide sustainability
New report shares how California can map out, invest in state’s valuable working landscapes: “California’s working landscapes include farmland, ranches, forests, wetlands, mines, water bodies and other natural resource lands, both private and public. From clean water and nutritious food to climate stability and outdoor recreation, they provide essential benefits for our economy, health and quality of life. These ecosystem services are often taken for granted, leading to underinvestment in the natural systems and rural communities that sustain them. A new report — Ecosystem Services and Working Landscapes: Market Mechanisms to Revitalize Rural Economies, prepared by Daniel O’Connell, Ph.D., and Adam Livingston, with support from the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources — offers a framework for mapping, valuing and investing in ecosystem services. To ensure that those who manage California’s working landscapes benefit from stewarding them, the report recommends that policymakers do the following … ” Read more from the California Economic Forum blog here: New report shares how California can map out, invest in state’s valuable working landscapes
More ink, less water: News coverage of the drought prompted Californians to conserve, study suggests: “What does it take to get Californians to save water during a massive drought? Apparently, a lot of ink and newsprint helps. Extensive news coverage of the state’s historic drought prompted residents to conserve water, new research out of Stanford University suggests. The more that major newspapers wrote about the drought, the more people in the Bay Area cut back on their personal water use, according to a report this week in the journal Science Advances. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: More ink, less water: News coverage of the drought prompted Californians to conserve, study suggests
NASA ends trailblazing satellite mission that revealed global groundwater trends: “The unexpectedly long life of a pair of pioneering satellites that deepened scientific understanding of society’s influence on water and land is over. NASA and its project partners decided to end the GRACE satellite mission this week after the eighth of 20 battery cells on GRACE-2 failed. GRACE-1 was still working, but the mission, which measures fractional changes in Earth’s gravity based on the position of the satellites relative to each other, requires both to move in tandem. Losing one means losing all. Still, scientists on the project team and those who used its data celebrated the success of a $140 million mission that kept going and going and going, lasting a decade longer than anticipated. … ” Read more from the Circle of Blue here: NASA ends trailblazing satellite mission that revealed global groundwater trends
In commentary this weekend …
California must build on Salton Sea momentum, says the Desert Sun: They write, “After far too many years lost to the indecisiveness of “let’s do yet another study,” momentum finally seems to be behind real efforts to “save” the Salton Sea. The California Legislature recently approved a massive new water and parks bond that would provide $200 million for efforts to mitigate harmful effects of the drying up of the state’s largest inland sea. Gov. Jerry Brown, with his signature, has given the move his blessing, placing it before state voters on the coming June primary ballot. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun here: California must build on Salton Sea momentum
Cadiz Water Project has followed the rules, process, says Courteney Degener: She writes, “Our state’s landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is one of the most rigorous environmental laws in the nation. Unlike federal environmental regulations, CEQA goes beyond identifying environmental impacts, requiring that they be mitigated to a level of insignificance. By utilizing a process that must consider all opinions, CEQA ensures that certified projects are actually safe for the environment and worthy of moving forward. That’s why a recent Desert Sun editorial, “California officials must maintain pressure on Cadiz aquifer project” was disappointing. Its call for state officials to target the project didn’t detail the CEQA process we completed and the safeguards and enforcement provisions imposed during the process and upheld by the courts. ... ” Read more from the Desert Sun here: Cadiz Water Project has followed the rules, process
In regional news and commentary this weekend …
Sonoma County: Felta Creek still threatened and more precious than ever, says Lucinda Kotter: She writes, “A precious gem of coho salmon habitat just became more rare and special. Felta Creek watershed did not burn in the firestorm, but a whole lot of Sonoma County’s forest and wildlife habitat did. The streams that flow through the burned areas of the Russian River watershed are perhaps irreparably damaged. They will still carry water but without the shade of surrounding trees, that water will be warmer, will dry up earlier and erosion from the scorched hillsides will choke spawning gravels with fine sediment. Only time will tell if these streams will ever carry cold water loving salmonid species in the near future. As one of the last native coho salmon bearing streams in the Russian River watershed, the fires just made Felta Creek even more important and raised the imperative to protect this creek and its watershed. … ” Read more from Sonoma West here: Sonoma County: Felta Creek still threatened and more precious than ever
Wet winter leaves tons of extra deposits at Sacramento marina: “Every day for the past week, crews have removed 80 truck loads of sand from the Sacramento Marina, another example of the impacts of a record-wet winter. They’ve removed around 5,000 cubic yards, about twice the amount that was removed last year. Before crews could even bring a crane in to dredge the channel, they first had to remove hundreds of cubic feet of sand. “So, we ended up with a beach that was about four-to-six feet higher than it had ever been,” marina manager Keith Underwood said. “The launch ramp, every time the water receded, there was another two feet of silt on that.” … ” Read more from Capital Public Radio here: Wet winter leaves tons of extra deposits at Sacramento marina
State survey shows Solano has the most abandoned vessels in the Delta: “Solano County has more abandoned vessels in its waterways than any other Delta county, according to a state survey by the Office of Spill Prevention and Response. Eighty-eight of the 237 derelict vessels identified in the aerial survey this spring were in Solano County, said Annie Daly, a graduate student at the Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is working on her master’s degree in coastal and marine resource management and interned this summer with OSPR. ... ” Read more from the Daily Republic here: State survey shows Solano has the most abandoned vessels in the Delta
Sunnyvale’s historic water tank hits the big time: “In the competition among the country’s historically significant municipal water-storage containers, Sunnyvale just knocked one out of the park. The city’s iconic 150,000-gallon water tower has been selected as one of the top 12 finalists for the (are you sitting down?) the 2017 Tank of the Year competition sponsored by Tnemec Company. ... ” Read more from San Jose Mercury News here: Sunnyvale’s historic water tank hits the big time
Milpitas water rate task force recommends two-tier system: “Just over a year after the last Milpitas City Council voted to create the Citizens Task Force on Water Rates to review the city’s water system, the 11-member panel came back with recommendations at a special council meeting last week. The recommendation by the task force, which was discussed the most at the Oct. 18 meeting, was to implement a two-tiered water rate structure that would also support water infrastructure and capital improvement costs. The task force advised that looking into a two-tier rate system would reward residents who use less water, but would reduce the cost to all residents. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News here: Milpitas water rate task force recommends two-tier system
Proposed Doheney desalination project will be discussed at water district workshop: “The South Coast Water District will hold a board workshop Tuesday in Laguna Beach to discuss the proposed Doheny Ocean Desalination Project. District staff will update board members about desalination studies, placement of slant wells, hydrology, alternative power supplies and cost estimates. South Coast, which serves customers in South Laguna, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, proposes a 5-acre facility on 30 acres of district-owned property near San Juan Creek. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: Proposed Doheney desalination project will be discussed at water district workshop
Along the Colorado River …
Who controls the water? Arizona agencies slug it out: “For three years, federal, state and local water officials have hunted for a solution to declining water levels at Lake Mead, a key drinking-water source for Tucson, Phoenix and their suburbs. But in the past few months, a bitter power struggle between Arizona’s two top water agencies has ground that effort to a halt. The turf war pits the Arizona Department of Water Resources, which manages water issues statewide, against the agency operating the Central Arizona Project, the 336-mile-long canal that brings Colorado River water to Tucson and Phoenix. … ” Read more from the Arizona Daily Star here: Who controls the water? Arizona agencies slug it out
Should iconic Lake Powell be drained? “Like many places across the West, Lake Powell seems impossibly large, mythical almost, with its rich red rock canyon walls standing in dramatic juxtaposition to the expanse of cerulean below that seems to stretch on forever. Dramatic is an apt way to describe the second-largest man-made reservoir in America. When it was formed in 1963, following the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, Lake Powell was designed to hold a massive quantity of water—26,215,000 acre-feet—that flows down mostly in the form of melted snowpack from the Upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico. One acre-foot is enough water to serve a family of four for a year. … ” Read more from Scientific American here: Should iconic Lake Powell be drained?
Click here to read more editions of the Daily Digest.
Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!
Sign up for daily emails and get all the Notebook’s aggregated and original water news content delivered to your email box by 9AM. Breaking news alerts, too. Sign me up!
—————————————-
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
