California Water Digest — 2026-07-05

14 item(s) from 7 source(s); 8 flagged (🔔) for your blog keywords.

📰 News & Policy

DWR: State Water Project shifts into summer operations to support California’s water supply and environment

Maven’s Notebook — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:43:55 +0000

From the Department of Water Resources: The people who operate the State Water Project move water within a realm of regulations designed to protect water quality and endangered fish species under various conditions throughout the year. Starting July 1, those regulations make a big shift. This annual change in regulations is driven primarily by what scientists know about the life cycles and movemen…

🔔 Dairy Farms’ Expansion Plan Worries California Families Who Once Had a ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ - Inside Climate News

Google News — CA water — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT

Dairy Farms’ Expansion Plan Worries California Families Who Once Had a ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ Inside Climate News

🔔 The Uneven Toll of California’s Groundwater Law in the Valley - GV Wire

Google News — groundwater/SGMA — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:14:36 GMT

The Uneven Toll of California’s Groundwater Law in the Valley GV Wire

🔔 California commits $7.5M to fight golden mussels in Sacramento Delta waterways - Sacramento Bee

Google News — Bay-Delta — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 14:00:00 GMT

California commits $7.5M to fight golden mussels in Sacramento Delta waterways Sacramento Bee

Solar Panel Farms May Be The Solution To California’s Water And Power Supply Problems - bgr.com

Google News — state agencies — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:17:00 GMT

Solar Panel Farms May Be The Solution To California’s Water And Power Supply Problems bgr.com

SJV WATER: Wealthy grower John Vidovich has become a lightning rod for discontent in western Kern water district

Maven’s Notebook — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:39:03 +0000

By Lois Henry, SJV Water Growers in the Buena Vista Water Storage District have been working for the past year on a new district map to increase director seats from five to seven specifically to get around a voting block held by John Vidovich. John Vidovich Vidovich, a wealthy Silicon Valley developer and grower, owns vast sections of land in Buena Vista’s two northern districts. Because Buena Vis…

🔔 California water board orders cleanup after bentonite clay discharge in Redwood Creek - KRCR

Google News — CA water — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 22:54:56 GMT

California water board orders cleanup after bentonite clay discharge in Redwood Creek KRCR

🔔 Manteca is now using 40 percent less groundwater than in 2014 - Manteca Bulletin

Google News — groundwater/SGMA — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 20:05:07 GMT

Manteca is now using 40 percent less groundwater than in 2014 Manteca Bulletin

Stockton declares emergency as golden mussels threaten water supply - The Stockton Record

Google News — Bay-Delta — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Stockton declares emergency as golden mussels threaten water supply The Stockton Record

California Water Association to challenge CPUC’s last-minute policy change on water system consolidation

Maven’s Notebook — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:38:25 +0000

Decision adopted after significant policy changes were released just 48 hours before vote, raising serious concerns about transparency From the California Water Association: The California Water Association (CWA), representing regulated water providers serving more than six million Californians, today expressed deep concern over the California Public Utilities Commission’s decision to adopt signif…

🔔 INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS: California’s first carbon capture project is up and running. Environmentalists are still trying to stop it.

Maven’s Notebook — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:38:01 +0000

As the state drafts pipeline rules for projects injecting CO2 underground, environmental groups are pressing for a more thorough assessment of the newly launched operation. By Emma Foehringer Merchant This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. California Res…

DEPT. OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL: California finalizes regulation adding microplastics to candidate chemicals list

Maven’s Notebook — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:36:55 +0000

Press release from the Department of Toxic Substances Control: DTSC’s Safer Consumer Products Program adopted a regulation adding microplastics to the Candidate Chemicals List, an important step toward reducing Californians’ exposure to these persistent and highly mobile particles. Following this listing, DTSC will further evaluate consumer products containing microplastics and consider future reg…

🎓 Research

🔔 Wet Season’s end for Water Year 2026

CA Water Blog (UC Davis) — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Reading Summary: Wet Season’s End for Water Year 2026

Key Facts

Statewide precipitation finished at 97% of average, with unusual uniformity across California
Snowpack was unusually low but not as severe as the 2012–2016 drought lows; an abnormally warm and dry March accelerated early snowmelt
California reservoir storage is strong, benefiting from three consecutive non-dry years; SWP allocation is 45% (vs. 30-year average of 60%)
Colorado River reservoirs have been in continuous depletion for 43 years since 1983, with an overdraft of 2.4 million acre-feet in the past year alone
Groundwater trends show some improvement over the last 10 years, but the Tulare Basin (southern Central Valley) remains the most severely overdrafted area, a pattern roughly 100 years old

Who Is Affected

Urban water contractors (SWP): 45% allocation — a relatively good year
Senior agricultural contractors (Settlement/Exchange, Friant Class 1): 100% allocation
Junior south-of-Delta CVP agricultural contractors: only 25% (slightly below 12-year average of 30%)
Colorado River water users (not fully detailed but implicated by ongoing reservoir depletion)
Central Valley communities, particularly in the Tulare Basin, facing chronic groundwater overdraft
Salmon, Delta smelt, and other fish and waterbird species affected by ecosystem/flow management gaps

Policy/Legal Angle

SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) is implicitly referenced via the SGMA data portal and concerns about compliance timelines approaching 2040
Cites Escriva-Bou et al. (2020) on distinguishing hydrologic luck from inadequate management in groundwater non-compliance — directly relevant to SGMA adjudication and enforcement decisions
SWP and CVP allocation frameworks (tiered by contractor seniority) are described, highlighting ongoing inequities for junior agricultural users
No specific court decisions cited, but the framing around 2040 compliance deadlines signals looming regulatory pressure

Blog Angles

The Colorado River’s 43-year decline: With 2.4 MAF of overdraft in a single year, what does California’s long-term exposure look like — and how dependent are Southern California communities on a reservoir system that may never refill?
SGMA’s 2040 reckoning in the Tulare Basin: The article raises the question of how regulators will distinguish “bad luck” hydrology from genuine management failure — what does that mean for Tulare Basin GSAs already struggling with overdraft?
Biological data gap as a policy failure: The author flags that salmon, Delta smelt, and ecosystem data remain fragmented and lagged. Who is responsible for fixing this, and is the lack of real-time biological data quietly undermining water operations litigation and regulatory decisions?

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