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Wildfires are Putting Water Supplies at Risk, and Corporate America is Scared

/in , , /by /CNBCby Diana Olick

As wildfires tear across America’s West, the immediate risk is to life and property, but they will eventually affect water supplies.

That’s one reason large corporations are beginning to help fund forest restoration in order to mitigate their water risk.

The water supply for many communities, including large cities, starts in mountains and national forests. In California, about 70% of the water either starts or flows through national forests, according to Forest Service estimates.

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California Water Suppliers Cast 1st Challenge to Strict Drought Rules

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nick Cahill

Freshly cut off from their chief water supply, a group of California water agencies in one of the state’s most fertile farming areas sued on Wednesday to freeze the latest round of emergency drought rules.

In a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, the suppliers argue they were denied due process when state regulators ordered thousands of landowners last month to cease diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta due to drought conditions. They claim the sweeping water curtailments were based off faulty data and will cause permanent damage to pricey fruit and nut orchards.

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‘Wonderful’: Tooleville Relieved in State’s Force for Water Consolidation

/in , , /by /The Sun Gazetteby Ben Irwin

Last week, the State Water Board finally intervened in the unincorporated area of Tooleville’s 20-year struggle to obtain the basic human right to clean drinking water with a letter to the city of Exeter and the Tooleville Mutual Nonprofit Water Association, giving the two parties six months to hash out terms for a voluntary consolidation of Tooleville to Exeter’s water system or face a mandatory order with much less cooperation.

Repeal of County Law Prohibiting Private Operation of Desal Plants Set for Sept. 21 Discussion

/in , , /by /Monterey County Weeklyby Christopher Neely

Monterey County is the only county is California with a law that prohibits private companies from operating new desalination plants. That law, passed in 1989, will be up for a potential repeal when the county’s supervisors meet on Sept. 21.

The law has been thrust into the spotlight as Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., a publicly traded, $11 billion Canada-based company, has proposed construction of what could be a massive regional desalination plant in Moss Landing.

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How Biden’s Team Rushed to Dump a Trump-era PFAS Assessment

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby E.A. Crunden

Trump-era EPA appointees engaged in “considerable political level interference” on an assessment for a controversial “forever chemical,” documents obtained by E&E News indicate.

But the Biden administration wasted no time in yanking that document, moving to scrub the assessment of alterations made by political appointees and restore language advocated by EPA career scientists shortly after the president’s inauguration.

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La Niña Responsible for Megadroughts in North and South America, Study Finds

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Jon Parton

La Niña, the climate event that causes water to be colder than normal in the eastern Pacific, has now been shown by new research released Monday to be responsible for simultaneous megadroughts in the North and South American Southwest over the past 1,000 years.

Megadroughts are extended periods of drought that last at least 20 years. In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers found that these megadroughts occurred simultaneously in the North American and South American Southwest “regularly” and often during a La Niña event.

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Proposed Change at Prado Dam Could Yield Water for 60,000 More People

/in , , /by /The Sunby Martin Wisckol

Enough water for 60,000 Orange County residents can be generated by more efficient release of rainwater from the Prado Dam into the Santa Ana River, according to a new multi-agency report.

During a year of average rainfall, that’s the amount of water currently flowing into the ocean that could be captured for urban use, according to the two co-chairmen of the committee overseeing project. The proposed plan, slated to begin phasing in next year, would enable more rainwater to be absorbed into the county’s major groundwater basin before it reaches the Pacific.

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Why Water Cuts Are Coming to Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Cordie Qualle

The Bureau of Reclamation, the agency charged with water resources management for the West at the federal government level, announced unprecedented Tier 1 cuts in water deliveries from Lake Mead on the Colorado River to Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico in 2022. The Tier 1 cuts will reduce water deliveries due to historic low water levels in Lake Mead.

California deliveries are not impacted by this announcement due to senior water rights, but they could be coming if water levels continue to drop. The Colorado River watershed and most western river watersheds that feed reservoirs with snowmelt are not producing as much runoff as they have historically due to the warming atmosphere affecting snow elevations and dryer and warmer soil and air temperatures.

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Hopes That Dry Year Will Prompt Action on Water Management and Storage

/in , /by /AgNet Westby Brian German

There is hope that the unfortunate conditions of California’s water supply this year will prompt decisive action on water management and storage. President and CEO of Western Growers, Dave Puglia noted that his conversations with growers have been disheartening. There is significant concern that if California gets another dry year, many farmers will not be able to recover. The dire circumstances of the current water year underscore the imperative need for an updated approach to water management.

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State Halts Diversions From the Tuolumne River. What That Means for Mid, Tid Water Users

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson

The Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts are among water right holders ordered by the state to stop diversions on the Tuolumne River and other streams that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta.

“All of the water that flows off the mountains has to remain in the river and can’t be diverted for storage or irrigation purposes,” said Michael Cooke, director of regulatory affairs for TID, who explained the state drought orders Tuesday to Stanislaus County supervisors.

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