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OPINION: California’s Can’t-Miss Chance To Provide Safe Drinking Water For All

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Kirsten James

The clock is ticking to ensure clean drinking water is available to all in California. Legislators have just five days to help an estimated 1 million Californians access safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets. In the world’s fifth-largest economy, there should be no question about voting “yes” for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SB 844 and SB 845). Stories we’ve heard from around the state make the need all the more compelling.

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‘Exchange Pools’: Los Angeles Provides Innovative Groundwater Strategy

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by William Blomquist, Mark Gold, Stephanie Pincetl, and Kathryn Mika

Across California, Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) are devising plans to reduce long-term overdraft. As part of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, GSAs will submit plans in 2020–22, which detail strategies to bring groundwater use into balance by 2040. Planning processes must assemble stakeholders and estimate sustainable yields of groundwater, quantify existing pumping, describe future options to limit overdraft and identify funding.

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Why One Arizona County Could Upend the Southwest’s Drought Plan

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Matt Weiser

Serious water shortages on the Colorado River could be less than two years away, according to new federal estimates. Yet after 19 years of drought, just 500 farmers in one Arizona county may decide the fate of the entire Southwest: By holding tight to their own temporary water supply, they could stall a conservation plan designed to save the entire region from water shortages.

Pinal County, sandwiched between Phoenix and Tucson, is the third-largest farming county in Arizona and 54th in the nation, generating about $1 billion in annual sales, according to United States Department of Agriculture statistics. Beef cattle and milk generate more than half of that income, with cotton and alfalfa the next largest commodities

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How Ranchers Are Getting By With Less Water Across The West

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Cassidy Johnston

In the summer, all we talk about is rain. Walk into a diner or a barn, or just run into someone at the store, and the first question anyone asks – even before, “How are you?” – is, “Did you get any rain?” It’s the same in New Mexico as in Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and California. Everyone is concerned because, as ranchers, we know the health of our cattle depends on the amount of water that falls out of the sky. And this year, it hasn’t been a lot.

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Delta Breezes Are Dying And That Could Be Bad News For An Imperiled Fish

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tom Philp

As a 27-year Sacramentan, it’s pretty easy to detect that there are fewer winter moments of dense, bone-penetrating valley fog than before. Winter used to mean days on end without seeing a sun in the sky. But how many of us are just as aware that the blessed Delta breeze also isn’t what it used to be? (It sure abandoned us in July.) Or how this ebbing of the wind has shifted the ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta itself?

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California Groundwater Law Means Big Changes Above Ground, Too

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

California’s new groundwater management law is not a sports car. It moves more like a wagon train. The rules do not require critically overdrafted aquifers to achieve “sustainability” until 2040. But 22 years from now, once they finally get there, lives will be transformed. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), adopted in 2014, will change more than groundwater. The requirement to end overdraft will also transform land use, a massive side effect yet to be widely recognized. Parts of California will literally look different once the law takes full effect. It could put some farmers out of business. It could change how others farm.

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Deeply Talks: Water Conservation And Efficiency Challenges

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Lindsay Abrams

In this month’s episode of Deeply Talks, Water Deeply managing editor Tara Lohan discussed California’s statewide and local conservation and efficiency efforts with Cynthia Koehler, cofounder and executive director at WaterNow Alliance, and Erik Porse, a research engineer in the Office of Water Programs at California State University, Sacramento.

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Hot Weather, Land Abuses Fueling Algal Blooms In Western Waters

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

The West is known for summer wildfires. Now it seems Western summers will be distinguished by another kind of flare-up: algae blooms. This summer has witnessed an explosion of algae problems in Western water bodies. Usually marked by a bright green mat of floating scum, the blooms are unsightly and unpleasant for water lovers. More concerning are potentially toxic cyanobacteria often produced by the algae, which can be deadly to pets and livestock and cause illnesses in people. These harmful algal blooms have popped up in freshwater lakes and streams for years.

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California Farms’ Water Use Still Unclear, Despite New Reporting Rules

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

A new program in California aimed at tracking agricultural water consumption is off to a bumpy start, highlighting the challenges of monitoring an industry that has historically enjoyed limited oversight. Agriculture is the biggest consumer of water in the West, with many states using more than 70 percent of developed freshwater supplies for agriculture. So you would think state governments watch water consumption on farms carefully to look for conservation opportunities. In fact, some do not.

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OPINION: State Water Board’s Delta Plan Is No Fix For Fish And Hurts Farms

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Mike Wade

In announcing its new Bay-Delta Water Quality plan, the California State Water Resources Control Board said it wanted to “change the channel” on California’s water debate. We completely agree it’s time to move away from outdated thinking and embrace new, collaborative, science-based solutions and therefore are puzzled that the board is stubbornly clinging to the same failed approach of the past.

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