News Roundup #3: Power and planning
News Roundup #3: Power and planning
A look at some headlines from this week.
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-- Daniel
1/ We hear a lot today about border disputes, but it’s less often that we hear about it in the context of water. The United States and Mexico share the Rio Grande and the Colorado River. “Drought, climate change and politics are increasing tensions over treaty compliance,” Martha Pskowski reports for InsideClimateNews. The story breaks down the complex binational negotiations between the two countries and Mexico’s decision to walk away from a new agreement in the final hour. That agreement, a “minute” to a 1944 treaty, sought to avoid an impending conflict as Mexico faces a deadline to meet water delivery obligations by 2025. National politics in the countries could affect the tone and tenor of the upcoming negotiations. Set against this timeline are long-term, underlying factors from climate change. Here’s how the article puts it:
A prolonged drought and climate change are pummeling the Rio Grande watershed and Mexican tributaries alike. Extreme heat is already taking a toll on agriculture in the Rio Grande Valley. These trends are only expected to continue.
2/ Last week, the Navajo Nation signed a historic water agreement with the federal government, the Arizona Republic’s Arlyssa D. Becenti reports. The agreement settles the Navajo Nation’s claims to water rights on the Colorado River in Arizona, and it provides nearly $5 billion in funding for infrastructure. The agreement now goes to Congress for approval. The settlement and others addressing water sources beyond the Colorado River would end years of litigation between the Navajo Nation, states and federal government. “I’m still amazed that we made it to this point,” said Navajo Attorney General Ethel Branch. “It’s still the beginning. There is much that lies ahead in the process, like getting this to Congress, conforming the documents, filing the decree, and getting it accepted by the court. This is a strong important first step.”
3/ The U.S. government announced millions in funding for water recycling projects in Southern California. Los Angeles and the cities surrounding it remain dependent on imported water sources from the Colorado River, the State Water Project (drawing from rivers in northern California), and the L.A. Aqueduct. But the region has made it a goal to expand its portfolio of local supplies through infrastructure investments in stormwater capture and wastewater recycling. On Tuesday, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced $99.2 million in funding for a regional water recycling plant called Pure Water Southern California (it’s total price tag is $8 billion), as the L.A. Times’ Ian James reported. The L.A. Department of Water and Power also got $30 million in funding for a water recycling and groundwater recharge project.
The Colorado River angle here: The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is not the only one watching the water recycling project. Other users on the Colorado River also have a (literal) stake. Metropolitan currently sources a portion of its portfolio from the Colorado River. When the water recycling plant comes online, it could potentially dial back its use, leaving more Colorado River water available for other users, like the Central Arizona Project and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Its why both agencies outside California have invested in the wastewater recycling project. More from The Nevada Current’s Jeniffer Solis.
4/ About those imported supplies: For more than 100 years, the L.A. Department of Water and Power has looked to the eastern Sierra for its water. As the growing city accumulated water rights in places like the Owens Valley and Mono Basin, it came to be an influential landlord. A fascinating in-depth piece from The Guardian and AfroLA looks at the implication of a distant L.A. agency owning so much land — and what it means for their renters. One statistic that stood out to me: In Inyo County alone, the department owns more than 90% of the private land. This is the kind of article that only comes together after substantial reporting work, and it’s worth checking out.
5/ “I don’t want to push our water downstream. I don’t want to disregard it. But I also have to survive in this landscape. And to survive in this landscape, you have to get creative.” That’s a quote from a Wyoming farmer who participated in a program paying farmers to leave water in the Colorado River. The program is known as the System Conservation Pilot Program, and it can be controversial — for many different reasons and in many different corners. Reporters Alex Hager of KUNC and Heather Sackett of Aspen Journalism chronicle the promise and pitfalls of the program.
6/ Where does the public have the right to fish? That’s a question that’s playing out on the Lower Provo River in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune’s Paighten Harkins reports. Private landowners are frustrated with anglers on their property, citing a 2010 Utah bill that bans people from trespassing onto riverbeds, legislation upheld last year by the Utah Supreme Court. Anglers are pushing back, arguing that the Lower Provo River is navigable, meaning its beds and banks are public and open to recreation.
7/ “Often groundwater is out of sight, out of mind. We don’t measure it, we don’t understand it and we misuse it.” That’s a quote from Melissa Rohde, a hydrologist featured in this excellent piece on groundwater-dependent ecosystems. The vital role that groundwater plays in ecosystems is recognized in California law, but protection is largely omitted in plans to manage aquifers. Los Angeles Times’ Ian James has more.
8/ A new petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency asks the federal government to protect the Amargosa toad under the Endangered Species Act, Alan Halaly writes for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Environmentalists are concerned about the impact of seven proposed gold mines that could stress the aquifer that the toad’s habitat relies on. Groups, working with local residents, have sought to protect habitat and keep the species off the endangered species list but the petition said that “the Amargosa toad’s population continues to remain in a highly precarious state, and today faces a new existential threat, which did not exist when previous petitions were under evaluation.”