For the first time in years, Ojai Valley residents won’t be required to curb their water use or risk fines.
Starting in June, the Casitas Municipal Water District plans to end its mandatory water conservation measures and stiff penalties — ones in place for the past eight years in the drought-stressed region. The Casitas board unanimously approved the move at a meeting this week.
The San Diego County Water Authority supports a consensus-based approach for long-term solutions to water supply issues in the Colorado River Basin. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on April 11 released a draft environmental document that considers changes to near-term operations on the Colorado River, including potential reductions in water supplies for California and across the Lower Colorado River Basin.
Reclamation’s draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) analyzes two alternatives, plus a no-action alternative, to protect critical elevations at Lakes Mead and Powell, the two reservoirs California depends on for its river supplies. Both reservoirs have declined due to unprecedented low levels from more than two decades of drought.
The release of the draft SEIS, which would modify the set of operating guidelines that manage river operations through 2026, comes even as heavy snows this winter signal some relief on the river.
“While this winter’s storms delivered an incredible snowpack, the release of the draft SEIS highlights that we need to continue to work with all Basin states, the tribes and Mexico toward a consensus-based approach that provides real and lasting solutions for all water users,” said Dan Denham, deputy general manager for the San Diego County Water Authority.
To address potential for low run-off/unprecedented water shortages in #CORiver Basin, @usbr today released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to potentially revise current interim operating guidelines for near-term op.s of Glen Canyon & Hoover Dams. pic.twitter.com/XnjnjJe7BU
— Bureau of Reclamation (@usbr) April 11, 2023
The first of the two action alternatives in the draft SEIS acknowledges the priority system for water rights under existing agreements and laws. The San Diego region’s river supplies are largely protected from reductions because they are tied to California’s senior rights within the Lower Colorado River Basin as well as the Imperial Irrigation District’s (IID) high priority rights through the Water Authority’s conserved water transfer agreement with IID.
The second alternative calls for Reclamation to analyze the effects of reductions “distributed in the same percentage” for all water users in the Lower Basin states – California, Arizona and Nevada – despite there being no precedent or foundation for this approach under existing laws. It would mean across-the-board reductions for all water users in the region, including those with senior water rights.
Reclamation has stated it is expecting input from states, tribes and water agencies to fine-tune and adjust these alternatives. Discussions are ongoing between stakeholders.
NEWS RELEASE 4-11-2023: Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Henry Martinez issued a statement on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) released today by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. https://t.co/FO0bFx7Ubj pic.twitter.com/VLLzQnOHaS
— IID (@IIDatWork) April 11, 2023
“The Water Authority will continue to work in collaboration with our partners on the Colorado River Board of California to ensure California’s high priority water rights on the river are upheld through this SEIS process while we also work with all river stakeholders to develop long-term, durable solutions for the river,” Denham said.
The draft SEIS will be available for public comment for 45 calendar days and the final SEIS is anticipated to be available with a Record of Decision in Summer 2023, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Comments on the draft SEIS are due May 30. This document will inform the August 2023 decisions that will affect 2024 operations for Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams.
The proposal to address immediate water supply challenges complements Reclamation’s ongoing process to develop new guidelines for Colorado River Operations when the current interim guidelines expire at the end of 2026.
Four months ago, the outlook for the Colorado River was so dire that federal projections showed imminent risks of reservoirs dropping to dangerously low levels.
But after this winter’s major storms, the river’s depleted reservoirs are set to rise substantially with runoff from the largest snowpack in the watershed since 1997.
With all the rain Southern California had this winter, local water agencies are working harder to capture and keep all that water for when the drier years return.
In San Bernardino, you might not notice the latest project because much of it will be underground.
The Santa Ana River flows from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in Orange County. While much of that water does end up in the ocean, plenty is stored in aquifers and reservoirs.
After a three-year drought in California and throughout the Southwest, many states throughout the West are measuring record snowpack conditions at NRCS SNOTEL stations and snow courses. Utah especially has seen a benchmark year for snowfall levels throughout the state.
In California, the statewide snowpack (April 5) was 243% of normal, with the Northern Sierra at 198%, Central Sierra at 242%, and Southern Sierra at 302%. The California Department of Water Resources reported that the 2022-23 season will go down as one of the largest snowpacks on record in California.
California's snowpack is one of the biggest ever. DWR is reaching new heights to capture data to inform water supply forecasting and help local agencies plan for the spring snowmelt season.
–#california #water #cawater #snow pic.twitter.com/M2dbcy3Ej0— CA – DWR (@CA_DWR) April 5, 2023
In Nevada and Utah, current SWE percentages of median for select basins are as follows: Central Lahontan 273%, Central Nevada Desert Basins 267%, Great Salt Lake 224%, Lower Green 202%, Upper Colorado-Dolores 207%, and Upper Colorado-Dirty Devil 219%, according to the NRCS SNOTEL network.
“A significant Western warming trend during the weekend and early next week will increase streamflow due to melting snow. On April 10-11, temperatures should briefly top 95°F in lower elevations of the Desert Southwest. Periods of Northwestern precipitation will add to the runoff potential in that region. Meanwhile, little or no precipitation will fall during the next 5 days across a vast swath of the country, including southern California and the Plains, Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast.
The #Sierra snowpack is near its climatological peak, and looking at today's numbers from @CA_DWR, the statewide percent of avg sits at 243% for April 5. The southern Sierra is an "eye-popping" 302% of avg. Track the melt into area rivers at https://t.co/Vab3udGkyz #CAwater #CAwx pic.twitter.com/k7FKQP92kl
— NWS California-Nevada RFC (@NWSCNRFC) April 5, 2023
Farther south, however, 5-day rainfall could total 1 to 3 inches or more from eastern Texas to the Carolinas, with the bulk of the rain falling by Saturday. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for April 11 – 15 calls for the likelihood of below-normal temperatures in California, the Great Basin, and the Northwest, while warmerthan-normal weather will dominate the central and eastern U.S. Meanwhile, above-normal precipitation from the Rockies into the Plains and upper Midwest should contrast with drier-than-normal conditions in the East (excluding Florida’s peninsula) and much of California.”
If there ever was a winter to check off squares on your Wild Weather Bingo card, 2023 was it.
More than 30 atmospheric river storms. 97 mph wind gusts. Destructive tidal surges. Bomb cyclones. Flash floods. Levee breaks. The Fujiwhara Effect. Snow piled more than 240 inches deep at Mammoth Pass. One of the rainiest days on record in San Francisco.
Taps ran dry in Rio Verde on New Year’s Day.
Water had to be trucked in for household use in the affluent suburb outside Scottsdale, Arizona. The approximately 1,000 residents of the large, suburban stucco homes of Rio Verde were forced to take shorter showers and eat from paper plates.
For much of the past decade, Californians have been fixated on drought, and rightly so. But the flipside of the state’s volatile climate returned this year, reminding us that “normal” in a land of extremes can be either very wet or very dry.
A dozen or more atmospheric rivers have caused more than $5 billion in damage in the state, with more damage expected when the Sierra Nevada snowpack melts in the coming weeks.
As California continues to grapple with recurrent droughts and the impacts of climate change, Sonoma County is implementing innovative water conservation strategies to ensure water security and promote sustainability. By investing in wastewater recycling and rainwater harvesting initiatives, the county aims to build resilience and safeguard water resources for its residents and industries.
