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Invasive Mussel Threatens Lake Powell Pipeline Project

/in , , /by /AP News

An invasive mussel that has taken up residence in Lake Powell on the Colorado River is threatening Utah’s push to develop a $1.8 billion pipeline to deliver water to fast-growing areas. The Army Corps of Engineers has asked the state to provide a plan on how it will prevent the pipeline from transporting quagga mussels from the lake on the Arizona-Utah border, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Friday. The 140-mile (225-kilometer) pipeline aims to transport water to Washington and Kane counties in southern Utah. The line is planned to end at Sand Hollow Reservoir near St. George.

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Officials: State Reservoirs Looking ‘Robust’

/in , , /by /Oroville Mercury - Registerby Brody Fernandez

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced Thursday it will increase the 2019 State Water Project allocation to 75 percent from 70 percent. According to DWR officials, this will be the final allocation for the calendar year. The initial allocation in November 2018 was 10 percent. “This winter’s robust storms resulted in above average snowpack and reservoir levels bringing California a much-improved water year from last year,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth in a press release. “The full reservoirs will provide a healthy buffer for if we return to drier conditions next year.” According to the DWR’s website, a full reservoir provides optimal recreation opportunities and serves as a vital “water bank account” to help California cope with future drought conditions.

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Court Throws Out Federal Approval Of Cadiz Water Pipeline

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

A federal judge has struck down Trump administration decisions that cleared the way for Cadiz Inc. to build a water pipeline across public land in the California desert. The ruling is a blow to the company’s decades-long effort to pump groundwater from beneath its desert property 200 miles east of Los Angeles and sell it to urban Southern California. Cadiz wants to use an existing railroad right of way across federal land to pipe supplies from its proposed well field to the Colorado River Aqueduct. In 2015, during the Obama administration, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Cadiz couldn’t use the right of way and would therefore have to obtain federal permission to run the proposed pipeline across surrounding federal land.

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How Is Climate Change Affecting Oceans? Check The Tide Pools

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Nick Rahaim

On a sunny afternoon in mid-April, Professor Eric Sanford crouched in a tide pool off Bodega Bay and turned over algae-covered rocks in search of a chocolate porcelain crab, a dime-size crustacean with blue speckles. The creature has been spotted in small numbers around Bodega Bay for decades. But five years ago a severe marine heat wave, dubbed “the blob,” caused a sharp increase in its numbers north of the Golden Gate, says Sanford, a marine ecologist who researches climate change and coastal ecosystems at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Lab. “I look at how organisms adapt to climate change,” says Sanford, who regularly publishes articles in scientific journals on how life between the Northern California tides is changing.

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California Bill On PFAS Chemicals Advances, But In Watered Down Form

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Hannah Hagemann

A California Senate committee has voted in favor of a bill requiring that water providers notify their customers if they detect a class of chemicals called PFAS in drinking water. The Environmental Quality Committee passed AB 756 on Wednesday, 6-0. The bill now heads to the Appropriations Committee. If it passes there, the full Senate will vote on it.  PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are waterproof, grease-repellent, and heat-resistant chemicals that are fairly ubiquitous, found in popcorn bags, firefighting foams, nonstick pans, makeup, and even food like ground beef. Scientists estimate there are 4,700 PFAS, some of which have been linked to cancer, infertility, developmental disorders, increased cholesterol and weakened immunity.

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State Water Project Allocations Increase To 75 Percent

/in , , /by /Lake County News (Lakeport, Calif.)

The California Department of Water Resources announced Thursday that it will increase the 2019 State Water Project allocation to 75 percent from 70 percent. This is the final allocation for the calendar year. The initial allocation in November 2018 was 10 percent. The 2019 allocation of ­­75 percent amounts to 3,145,105 acre-feet of water. “This winter’s robust storms resulted in above average snowpack and reservoir levels bringing California a much-improved water year from last year,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “The full reservoirs will provide a healthy buffer for if we return to drier conditions next year.”

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Water Authority board chairman Jim Madaffer addresses the National Albondigas Political Society of San Diego about water's importance to the region's economy. Photo: Water Authority Water supply reliability

Madaffer: Collaboration Propels San Diego Water Supply Reliability

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As the San Diego County Water Authority celebrates its 75th anniversary this month, Board Chair Jim Madaffer offered a fresh vision of the region’s water future and outlined new efforts to ensure water supply reliability for generations to come at the National Albondigas Political Society of San Diego meeting in Chula Vista.

Madaffer pointed to the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District as an example of the creative thinking and political leadership needed to secure reliable water supplies not only for San Diego County, but across the southwestern U.S by working cooperatively.

“We were able to work out a deal with the Imperial Irrigation District for 200,000 acre-feet of water,” said Madaffer, noting that IID has priority rights to Colorado River water supplies. “How smart to have this insurance policy for the region.”

Madaffer said one of the key efforts ahead is securing storage rights for the San Diego region’s water at Lake Mead, a strategy that could offer benefits to the San Diego region and more broadly across the Southwest by minimizing the chances that Lake Mead will slip in formal shortage status.

Water Authority board chairman Jim Madaffer (right) with John Dadian of the National Albondigas Political Society of San Diego. Photo: Water Authority water supply reliability

Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer (right) with John Dadian of the National Albondigas Political Society of San Diego. Photo: Water Authority

Creative concepts explored to improve water supply reliability

Madaffer also outlined some of the concepts being explored by the Water Authority and its member agencies to improve water supply reliability with more diverse water supply sources, along with engineering and political creative thinking.

Madaffer said the Water Authority’s Board of Directors is considering a study about constructing a regional pipeline system to move the San Diego region’s independent water supplies from the Imperial Valley directly to San Diego. He said the options offer additional advantages to farmers in Imperial County and the Salton Sea.

“I’m a regionalist,” said Madaffer. “I’m interested in what we can do to make sure all of our member agencies are supported, and make sure water delivery works for the entire region.”

Graphic: Water Authority

San Diego is Brought to You by Water

Displaying a chart showing the change in water supply sourcing from 1990 to today, Madaffer asked, “Do we think we can insulate our region from the ravages of drought, so we aren’t depending on pipeline relining and several pipelines delivering imported water?”

He said the region’s approach includes a mix of investments, backed by efforts to use water wisely.

“We’re using less water today with 900,000 more people than we did back in 1990,” said Madaffer, calling it a conservation success story. “All our member agencies, plus each of you in this room, are responsible for helping make it happen.”

Madaffer also touted the region’s innovation culture.  “From Qualcomm to BIOCOM to all of the technology we produce, we are a hotbed of innovation in the region,” he said. “If you remember our drought back in the 1990s, there were states trying to grab our people, saying ‘Hey, work in our state instead, because California is out of water.’ We’ve changed that narrative 100 percent … San Diego is Brought to You by Water.”

San Diego Water Authority’s Jim Madaffer Named To Colorado River Board

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Ken Stone Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Jim Madaffer of the San Diego County Water Authority has been named to the Colorado River Board of California, which represents the state in talks with other states and federal agencies regarding management of the Colorado River.

The appointment was announced Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. Madaffer, 59, is a former San Diego councilman who has been president of Madaffer Enterprises since 2009. Now the chair of the county Water Authority board of directors, he’s a former Jerry Brown appointee to the California Transportation Commission, but resigned in January after becoming chair of the water authority.

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$30 Million Salton Sea Bill Passes U.S. House

/in , , /by /KESQ (Thousand Palms, Calif.)by Sam Benson Smith

The United State House of Representative has passed H.R. 2740, an appropriations bill in support of a federal agreement to allot $30 million for projects which would address the environmental and health crisis at the Salton Sea. Included in the Bill is an amendment from Representative Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D – Palm Desert) which would dedicate an added $2 million to stymie the decline of California’s largest lake. “This bill reflects the all-hands-on-deck approach we must take to mitigate and manage the decline of the Salton Sea by investing in our local environment and the health of our children, seniors, and families,”read a statement from Ruiz’s issued in a news release from his office.

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Feds Can’t Duck Claims Of Shoddy Review For Desert Water Pipeline

/in , /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena, Calif.)by Martin Macias Jr.

A federal judge indicated Thursday he will advance conservation groups’ claims that a proposed 43-mile groundwater pipeline in a Southern California desert was approved abruptly and without proper environmental review by a federal agency. The Cadiz groundwater pipeline project would move nearly 45 million gallons of water daily for 50 years from an underground aquifer in the Mojave Desert and to cities across Southern California. The Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety accuse Cadiz of trying to evade federal laws protecting the fragile desert by planning to build its pipeline along a railroad track that was established under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875.

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