Groundwater

Furious Napa Valley vineyards facing oblivion as crucifying new fees drop: ‘Can see where this ends’

New York Post

California’s Napa Valley is fermenting into a full-blown revolt as furious vineyard owners warn a new fee could leave them paying tens of thousands of dollars a year — the latest financial punch threatening to crush the struggling wine industry. Farmers across the iconic Northern California enclave say they are staring down financial disaster as the state moves to crucify them for their use of groundwater. Under a new law coming into effect later this summer, wineries will have to pay just under $99 per acre per year on land they irrigate as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sustainable water initiative.

It comes as the region, once famed across the world for its wine, is already in crisis mode over plummeting profits, fewer tourists, changing drinking habits and wildfires wiping out farmland.

The Uneven Toll of California's Groundwater Law in the Valley

GV Wire

Basra's experience with SGMA reals the groundwater law's uneven impacts in the San Joaquin Valley.

SGMA is California’s first ever attempt to regulate groundwater use to protect the state’s aquifers. The San Joaquin Valley — where almost the entire region is considered “critically” overpumped — is ground zero for how SGMA is playing out.

Colorado River

BLOG: A Tributary Approach to Learning the Colorado River

California Water Blog (UC Davis)

If watersheds are dynamic systems, changing in flow and form over time, understanding them is an exercise in moving between unique perspectives, values, and priorities. Or so we — a groundwater researcher, a water modeler, and a policy nerd — quickly learned when joining other students and professionals on rafts to paddle the Yampa River (Figure 1). This trip was organized as the fourth iteration of the Climate Adaptation Science Academy Experiential Learning Expedition (CASA ELE), a program led by Secure Water Future with the goal of bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers studying water in the West.

Lake Powell drop could mean major Colorado River cuts for California

The Desert Sun - Palm Springs

Lake Powell — the massive Colorado River reservoir that helps supply water and power across the West — is entering peak summer at its lowest level on record, raising fresh concerns about water supplies that millions of Californians depend on.

Federal projections warn that the lake could fall to the “minimum power pool” as soon as next year, a threshold at which the Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate electricity. Although the lake's levels have briefly fallen in years past, those low levels occurred in the spring, before melting snow refilled it. This year, that refill never happened .

Invasive Species

Invasive golden mussels found in West Sacramento port

KCRA (NBC 3) - Sacramento

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said invasive golden mussels have been found in and around the port of West Sacramento.

This discovery marks the northernmost area where the mussels have been located since they were first identified in Stockton in 2024.

Invasive golden mussels found in port of West Sacramento

KTXL (FOX 40) - Sacramento

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported on Saturday that invasive golden mussels were found in and around the Port of West Sacramento.

Officials said that the golden mussel detection is the northernmost since 2024, when the species was discovered in the Port of Stockton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

CDFW Confirms Northernmost Detection of Golden Mussel in Port of West Sacramento

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is notifying the public and officials with the city of West Sacramento and Yolo and Sacramento counties that invasive golden mussels have been found in and around the Port of West Sacramento.

This is the northernmost detection of golden mussel since the species was discovered in the Port of Stockton in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in 2024.

Fisheries

Salmon Advocates Warn of a New Threat on the Sacramento River

Active NorCal

Just as California’s salmon season clawed back to life, fishing advocates warn the federal government is about to repeat the disaster that shut it down.

The Golden State Salmon Association rang the alarm that the Bureau of Reclamation intends to manage Shasta Dam this fall in a way that could once again cook the Sacramento River’s next generation of Chinook.