Santa Cruz County Water Digest

Suppliers now have detailed steps to create a new source of drinking water. But it’s not really “toilet-to-tap.” Due to the cost, it’ll likely be only large suppliers.

Salmon populations in the Scott and Shasta rivers have crashed, so state officials are about to restrict irrigation again. And the controversial rules may even become permanent.

Water fights have shaped California since its infancy as a state, when its abundance seemed limitless. Now, Californians are being forced to confront limitations, and the state that prides itself on creating the future is now reckoning with its past.

The California Department of Water Resources released an environmental impact report for a tunnel that the state would like to build through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The report identifies potential impacts to farmland, tribal remains and endangered species of fish.

Water managers in Pajaro Valley are paying farmers for water they get back into the ground. The move comes as California has grappled with water shortages in recent years.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is getting a $100 million loan to help cover a shortfall more than three times as large. The district also may change how it charges its more than 19 million customers for water.

The San Lorenzo Valley Water District has been reckoning with the departures of two longtime senior staffers. Director of Finance Kendra Reed and District Manager/General Manager Rick Rogers both moved on from their roles due, in part, to interactions with Bob Fultz, a board member since 2018.

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, which turns 40 next year, has launched its Strategic Plan 2024+, which outlines the history of the agency, its mission, and in-depth goals for the future.

Unlike a year ago, water storage is above average. Whether the year is wet or dry, though, remains uncertain despite El Niño conditions.

The San Lorenzo Valley Water District announced plans to rebuild one of its major pipelines that was previously destroyed in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire.

Much of California could get hit by extreme weather conditions this winter. A major storm is due to hit Northern California this week.

The Elmore Desert Ranch gets 22.5 billion gallons of water from the Colorado River, almost as much as is cleared for Scottsdale, Ariz. And that’s just a fraction of the 386.5 billion gallons from the river going to 19 other families in Imperial Valley.

The first reservoir in California in nearly 50 years is now on the fast track for completion.

Intense rains have California out of a drought less than a year after most of the state faced water shortages. A climatologist is urging wise water usage ahead of California’s next drought.

Wet weather and planned cuts by California, Arizona and Nevada averted declines that could have threatened water deliveries and power production—but long-term threats to the Colorado River remain.

When Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard announced her retirement, the city began a national recruitment effort. After a weeks-long search, the ideal replacement was right here in Santa Cruz: Water Department Deputy Director and Engineering Manager Heidi Luckenbach.

Hundreds of wells in Tulare Lake aquifer are at risk of going dry. Today's recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on local plans that fail to stop excessive groundwater pumping.

Water providers say rebates for residential areas are costly and residents may refuse to remove their lawns. The rules aim to save enough water for more than a million households a year.

Bolstered by $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, federal officials have begun investing in climate resiliency projects on the local level and the Soquel Creek Water District’s Pure Water Soquel Project is the latest to benefit.

The San Lorenzo River mouth was breached by city workers Sept. 29 to prevent flooding of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and adjoining neighborhoods.

The irrigation bill, which aims to force businesses and institutions to remove their lawns, now goes to the governor.

San Lorenzo Valley Water District Manager Rick Rogers will step down after nearly a half-century of service.

“This is possibly the largest improvement project the District has ever taken on. The replacement of aged and undersize infrastructure will also greatly improve support for future firefighting efforts in the San Lorenzo Valley," said Rick Rogers, general manager of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District.

Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard recently announced that she will retire from her position at the start of 2024, which has prompted the city to start the search for her replacement.

The human-built world keeps getting in the way of the rising sea. But this current story of our coast does not have to end in disaster.

“Central Coast Water Board staff needs to review the water quality data and the additional information before ... we can authorize Big Basin Water Company to accept flows from additional properties,” wrote Jennifer Epp of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Three years after the CZU Complex Lightning Fire, Big Basin Water Company can once again operate the local sewer system. Homeowners say one of the obstacles to rebuilding has been the county was not approving permits because sewer lines were not connected.

Some 7,000 square miles of ocean on California’s Central Coast could soon become the largest national marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. It could also make history as one of the first federal sanctuaries to be spearheaded by a Native American tribe.

While the toxic algae bloom that sickened California marine mammals has dissipated, rescue centers prepare for more events as oceanographic conditions continue to present challenges.

Gavin Newsom signed an executive order aimed at accelerating levee repairs and debris removal to ensure communities along the Pajaro River are prepared for the winter.

Raising Shasta Dam to increase its capacity would provide 634,000 more acre-feet of water per year, legislators say. But that assumes there will always be enough precipitation, and the move risks flooding sacred Native American lands and harming local habitats.

In the magazine Nature, a team of scientists reports that they have detected changes in ocean color that cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variability alone. These color shifts have occurred over 56 percent of the world’s oceans.