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Welcome to the archives of Water Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on November 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on water resilience. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
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With shortages looming, Colorado interests are struggling to finalize a drought contingency plan. The state is split between East and West over whether water saved to boost Lake Powell storage should be required or voluntary.
Gov. Jerry Brown terms out in two months, yet the giant twin tunnel project he has shepherded will still be plodding through several permitting steps. Critics say there are better ways to meet California’s long-term water needs.
Heather Cooley, Sonali Abraham, Sarah Diringer and Cora Kammeyer
The $8.9 billion bond measure on the November 6 ballot covers a lot of ground on water issues. It also promises big money for a few projects that some experts and voters find unpalatable.
The acre-foot yardstick has been a reliable standby for water agency officials to explain water use to the public. But it may be time to recalibrate our thinking on that as communities plan new development.
Hollin Kretzmann
State regulators have allowed the oil industry to dump waste fluid in unlined pits for decades. Even amid proof that this practice has polluted groundwater, officials continue to grant the industry a pass on cleanup requirements.
Record heat and low rainfall have prompted drought emergency declarations in nearly a third of Oregon’s counties. Predicted El Niño conditions may mean there’s no relief in store this winter.
Agricultural interests are getting rich off temporary transfers of water to serve oil fracking wells. Even though water is considered a public resource in the state, Wyoming receives only tiny fees for each transfer.
Hannah Holm
Small programs can go a long way to save water and help farmers survive the coming shortages on the Colorado River. These should be the next focus for policymakers now wrestling with drought contingency plans.
Eliza Roberts
Lindsay Bass
Major food growers and retailers are looking hard at their growing and distribution practices to conserve soil nutrients and protect water quality. It’s an effort to reduce impacts throughout the entire food supply chain.
Aquifer recharge by itself isn’t enough to win a water diversion permit in California, says Erik Ekdahl of the State Water Resources Control Board. A more specific benefit is required, and the board is working to ease the process.
Smokers burn through 6 trillion cigarettes every year, and most are tossed into the environment. Butts contain microplastics and harmful chemicals, and new research suggests they may be directly toxic to wildlife. Efforts to curb butt litter have been largely futile.
California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, generating $11 billion annually for the state’s economy. Richard Waycott of the Almond Board of California explains what the industry is doing to use less water and stretch every drop.
Jerry Meral
The $8.9 billion bond measure on the November ballot would solve groundwater contamination in disadvantaged communities, restore wetlands, protect the Salton Sea and much more, says the measure’s author, Jerry Meral.
Kirsten James Oversees the California Policy Program, Ceres
Farming and food production use most of the world’s water and produce 13 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. A number of major growers and processors are taking steps to reduce those impacts, writes Ceres’ Kirsten James.
It’s become almost common currency that El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean mean wet winters in the West. But history shows that’s not necessarily so, partly because many other weather phenomena also play a role in precipitation.
Californians choose a new governor in just a few weeks. At a recent water conference in Sacramento, participants got a chance to offer the newbie some advice. There was plenty to be heard, as well as some wry humor.
Tom Philp Executive Strategist, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Water available for California farms and cities could decline as much as 44 percent by midcentury due to climate change. Such numbers, while headache-inducing, could make today’s water woes seem trifling.
Old assumptions aren’t working to predict today’s water supplies in the Rocky Mountain state, much less the future. Many planning scenarios ‘are actually pretty scary,’ says one water official.
Shrinking snowpack in the Colorado River watershed is not just a water supply problem, but could also lead to a variety of water quality concerns. Listen to two experts describe these changes and how we might adapt.
State law does not currently allow surface water to be used for groundwater recharge if the goal is managing pollution, reversing subsidence or controlling salinity. That could be a problem as local agencies begin trying to make their groundwater use more sustainable.
Scott Greacen
An historic landslide looms above Scott Dam, owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The utility is trying to sell off the dam without acknowledging the danger posed by this geologic threat and a nearby earthquake fault.
Amid concern about groundwater contamination, a ballot measure would force new fracking wells to keep their distance from homes. Another, sponsored by the oil industry, would force local government to compensate property owners for any lost value that results.
Efforts by the Trump administration to rewrite wetlands regulations could undermine natural functions that are crucial to clean drinking water, flood protection and wildlife habitat, says Jessica Kao.
Plans to transform the former home of the San Diego Chargers from a concrete wasteland are running into controversy: Despite public pronouncements, two competing ballot measures for a new stadium make no guarantees about public access to the San Diego River.
The $5 billion Sites Reservoir project recently won by far the largest award in a state funding competition. But separate state regulatory actions could limit how much water it can tap from the Sacramento River.
The state’s reservoirs have done their job to help water users survive record drought in 2018. Now they are almost totally dry, and tensions are building over the year ahead. ‘Climate change is really happening,’ one water official says.
Jay Lund Director, Center for Watershed Sciences at U.C. Davis
California recently promised billions of dollars in bond funds to new water storage projects. But it remains to be seen if these projects can obtain water rights and regulatory approval to actually start construction.
Los Angeles is proposing to build a 20-mile pipeline to transform Hoover Dam into a pumped storage hydropower project. It’s certainly feasible – except for the ongoing political and legal conflict over the Colorado River.
Jay Ziegler
The Land and Water Conservation Fund is set to expire on September 30, and Congress has made no move to revive it. That’s a mistake, as the fund is important to protect landscapes that deliver essential water supplies.
A new study has revealed that monsoons in the Southwest have already become less common but more extreme in nature, posing new challenges for water managers eager to capture crucial runoff.
Ellen Hanak Director, PPIC Water Policy Center
Jeffrey Mount Senior Fellow, PPIC Water Policy Center
The state’s water supply system will be strained to cope with climate change. New investments – and new ways of investing – are needed to improve water management, especially to recharge groundwater.
The state formed a working group, with the blessing of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to find ways to reuse wastewater from natural gas fracking wells. But concerned citizens say the process needs more daylight.
It will be challenging to adapt to changing precipitation and snowmelt patterns in the vital Colorado River watershed. Jack Schmidt at Utah State University is launching a project that may provide some answers.
Ted Kowalski Senior Environment Program Officer, Walton Family Foundation
New evidence tells us water shortages aren’t going away in the Colorado River Basin. They’ll likely just get worse. Survival requires new funding sources and a new commitment to conservation.
Size matters when the political debate turns to water storage in Colorado. Some candidates want as much as possible, some are only OK with small reservoirs. Either way, more Front Range water diversions are a touchy subject.
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