Fragmented kelp forest canopies retain their ability to alter local seawater chemistry

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | July 20th, 2020

Kelp forests support some of the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth, and their ability to uptake dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) allows them to modify loca

Kelp forests support some of the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth, and their ability to uptake dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) allows them to modify local seawater chemistry, creating gradients in carbon, pH, and oxygen in their vicinity. By taking up both bicarbonate and CO2 as a carbon source for photosynthesis, kelp forests can act as carbon sinks, reducing nearby acidity and increasing dissolved oxygen; creating conditions conducive to calcification. Recent stressors, however, have reduced kelp forest canopies globally; converting once large and persistent forests to fragmented landscapes of small kelp patches. In a two-year study, we determined whether fragmented kelp patches retained the ability to alter local seawater chemistry. We found that diel fluctuations of multiple parameters of carbonate chemistry were greater in the kelp canopy than in the kelp benthos and in adjacent urchin barrens, consistent with metabolic activity by the kelp. Further, kelp fragments increased pH and aragonite saturation and decreased pCO 2 during the day to a similar degree as large, intact kelp forests. We conclude that small kelp patches could mitigate OA stress and serve as spatial and temporal refugia for canopy-dwelling organisms, though this effect is temporary and confined to daylight hours during the growing season.

Framework to Coordinate Water Quality Improvement and Wildlife Habitat Conservation to Protect California Streams, Wetlands and Riparian Areas

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | February 1st, 2016

The emergence of comparable landscape approaches to wildlife conservation and water quality improvement through federal and California state regulatory and management pr

The emergence of comparable landscape approaches to wildlife conservation and water quality improvement through federal and California state regulatory and management programs provides an opportunity for their coordination to better protect California’s aquatic resources, especially streams, wetlands, and riparian areas. Such coordination is patently desirable. A framework has been developed to help coordinate restoration and compensatory mitigation across policies governing wildlife conservation and water quality in the landscape context. The framework is based on the Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP) of the California Wetland Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW) of the Water Quality Monitoring Council. The framework presented here is a version of the standard WRAMP framework. It only differs from the standard framework to better accommodate wildlife conservation planning, assessment and reporting. To distinguish this version from the standard version, it is termed theWRAMP for wildlife (WRAMPw).

Framing the Problem of Flood Risk and Flood Management in Metropolitan Los Angeles

American Meteorological Society (AMS) | January 1st, 2023

This paper develops the concept of flood problem framing to understand decision-makers’ priorities in flood risk management in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Region in Ca

This paper develops the concept of flood problem framing to understand decision-makers’ priorities in flood risk management in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Region in California (LA Metro). Problem frames shape an individual’s preferences for particular management strategies and their future behaviors. While flooding is a complex, multifaceted problem, with multiple causes and multiple impacts, a decision-maker is most likely to manage only those dimensions of flooding about which they are aware or concerned. To evaluate flood decision-makers’ primary concerns related to flood exposure, vulnerability, and management in the LA Metro, we draw on focus groups with flood control districts, city planners, nonprofit organizations, and other flood-related decision-makers. We identify numerous concerns, including concerns about specific types of floods (e.g., fluvial vs pluvial) and impacts to diverse infrastructure and communities. Our analyses demonstrate that flood concerns aggregate into three problem frames: one concerned with large fluvial floods exacerbated by climate change and their housing, economic, and infrastructure impacts; one concerned with pluvial nuisance flooding, pollution, and historic underinvestment in communities; and one concerned with coastal and fluvial flooding’s ecosystem impacts. While each individual typically articulated concerns that overlapped with only one problem frame, each problem frame was discussed by numerous organization types, suggesting low barriers to cross-organizational coordination in flood planning and response. This paper also advances our understanding of flood risk perception in a region that does not face frequent large floods.

Franks Tract Futures

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | April 26th, 2022

Free Water While It Lasts: An Analysis of Wholesale Water Pricing in the Lower Colorado River Basin States

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | December 11th, 2025

The Colorado River is facing a shortage of between two million and four million acre-feet per year (MAFY), nearly one-third of its current annual flow and the equivalent

The Colorado River is facing a shortage of between two million and four million acre-feet per year (MAFY), nearly one-third of its current annual flow and the equivalent of the amount needed to supply up to 30 million people with water each year (Shutt, 2022). Following a century of declining flow and two decades of the worst drought in more than 1,200 years to grip the U.S. Southwest, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is putting pressure on states that draw from the Colorado River to reduce water usage and create a long-term plan for responsible water management. But the price that agricultural and municipal water districts and utilities pay to divert federal water supplies in the western United States disincentivizes sustainable water practices and conservation efforts. In this paper, the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) explored the current state of water pricing for surface water supplies across Arizona, California, and Nevada, the three states comprising the Lower Colorado River Basin. We demonstrate that the vast majority of water sourced through the federal government from the Colorado River and other federal projects is sold or supplied at prices that do not reflect the scarcity of the resource; we also identify significant disparities between large agricultural districts and municipal utilities in the price paid for water at the wholesale level.

French Creek Flow Accounting Study

Scott River Water Trust | May 15th, 2020

The Scott River Water Trust (SRWT) has been working with adjudicated water-users in Scott Valley since 2007 to develop opportunities for stream flow enhancement through t

The Scott River Water Trust (SRWT) has been working with adjudicated water-users in Scott Valley since 2007 to develop opportunities for stream flow enhancement through temporary leases or long-term/permanent dedications of surface water rights. Under the seasonal Water Leasing Program, the SRWT contracts with voluntary agricultural producers to temporarily forbear all or part of their decreed water right(s) during the irrigation season in exchange for fair financial compensation. The purpose of the seasonal Water Leasing Program is to improve conditions for anadromous fish in priority stream reaches during critical life stages and time periods. The Siskiyou Resource Conservation District (SRCD) has been integrally involved with implementation of the seasonal Water Leasing Program since its inception and particularly with the monitoring component. Monitoring of seasonal transactions is generally limited to ensuring compliance with the lease terms and confirming stream response. However, in 2016 the SRWT proposed expanding the scope of effectiveness monitoring associated with the Water Leasing Program based on suggestions from Andrew Purkey and Rankin Holmes of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and their experience monitoring transactions in the Columbia River Basin (Holmes, et al., 2013). Under funding from the California Flow Restoration Accounting Fund managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the SRWT contracted with the SRCD to explore several additional effectiveness monitoring techniques on French Creek including instream water level/discharge monitoring, wetted- perimeter analysis and alluvial connectivity surveillance. The purpose of this additional monitoring was to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of these techniques to stream flow enhancement in Scott Valley and determine whether it would make sense for the SRWT adopt these practices into its programs. The specific components and objectives of the work completed on French Creek included: • Evaluate the instream effect of forbearance agreements performed by SRWT • Establish and maintain monitoring stations throughout French Creek to determine the downstream extent that returned water from various leases had on stream flow and temperature • Perform wetted perimeter analysis on French Creek to develop a relationship between instream flows and aquatic habitat conditions • Conduct periodic fisheries surveys through French Creek to evaluate the relative abundance of salmonids influenced by the transactions • Conduct periodic foot surveys through lower French Creek to establish the temporal and spatial connectivity to the Scott River This report summarizes the monitoring and analysis conducted by the SRCD during the 2018 and 2019 water leasing seasons under the French Creek Flow Accounting Study and provides conclusions related to the applicability of these methods to the SRWT.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to the CASGEM Program

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | August 21st, 2023

Since 2009, the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Program has tracked seasonal and long-term groundwater elevation trends in groundwater basi

Since 2009, the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Program has tracked seasonal and long-term groundwater elevation trends in groundwater basins statewide. The program’s mission is to establish a permanent, locally-managed program of regular and systematic monitoring in all of California's alluvial groundwater basins. Senate Bill x7-6, passed by the legislature in 2009, established collaboration between local monitoring parties and DWR to collect statewide groundwater elevations, to be made available to the public. In response to the law, we developed the CASGEM program. Collecting and evaluating these groundwater data on a statewide scale is a fundamental step toward improving management of California's groundwater resources. The CASGEM program relies and builds upon the many previously established local long-term groundwater monitoring and management programs. Click here for the CASEGEM Data and Resources directory from the Department of Water Resources.

Fresh Submarine Groundwater Discharge to the Near‐Global Coast

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | April 24th, 2019

Abstract: The flow of fresh groundwater to the ocean through the coast (fresh submarine groundwater discharge or fresh SGD) plays an important role in global biogeochemic

Abstract: The flow of fresh groundwater to the ocean through the coast (fresh submarine groundwater discharge or fresh SGD) plays an important role in global biogeochemical cycles and coastal water quality. In addition to delivering dissolved elements from land to sea, fresh SGD forms a natural barrier against salinization of coastal aquifers. Here we estimate groundwater discharge rates through the near‐global coast (60°N to 60°S) at high resolution using a water budget approach. We find that tropical coasts export more than 56% of all fresh SGD, while midlatitude arid regions export only 10%. Fresh SGD rates from tectonically active margins (coastlines along tectonic plate boundaries) are also significantly greater than passive margins, where most field studies have been focused. Active margins combine rapid uplift and weathering with high rates of fresh SGD and may therefore host exceptionally large groundwater‐borne solute fluxes to the coast. Plain Language Summary: Fresh groundwater flows from land to sea through coastal rocks and sediment. While the amount of groundwater flow is small compared with rivers, it plays an important role in carrying dissolved chemicals like nutrients to sea, and it helps protect aquifers against salinization. We estimate groundwater flow through the near‐global coast. Tropical regions have more groundwater flow, while dry midlatitudes have less. Dry midlatitude regions are therefore more vulnerable to salinization, which is problematic because these regions are also more likely to depend on groundwater to meet their water needs. Additionally, mountainous coastlines along tectonic plate boundaries have relatively large rates of groundwater discharge and may be associated with higher dissolved chemical fluxes to the coast.

Freshwater Scarcity

Annual Review of Environment and Resources (Annual Reviews) | October 24th, 2021

The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natur

The availability and use of fresh water are critical for human health and for economic and ecosystem stability. But the growing mismatch between human demands and natural freshwater availability is contributing to water scarcity, affecting industrial and agricultural production and a wide range of social, economic, and political problems, including poverty, deterioration of ecosystem health, and violent conflicts. Understanding and addressing different forms of water scarcity are vital for moving toward more sustainable management and use of fresh water. We provide here a review of concepts and definitions of water scarcity, metrics and indicators used to evaluate scarcity together with strategies for addressing and reducing the adverse consequences of water scarcity, including the development of alternative sources of water, improvements in water-use efficiency, and changes in systems of water management and planning.

Friant Division Central Valley Project

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | January 4th, 1994

Water is life the cliché goes, but in California, the reality is water is power. The Eureka State is blessed with warm days and productive soil, but deprived of enough w

Water is life the cliché goes, but in California, the reality is water is power. The Eureka State is blessed with warm days and productive soil, but deprived of enough water to go around. The pursuit of the power conferred by the water flowing in its rivers, and bubbling up from underground, is a much more complicated part of the Central Valley Project (CVP) than authorization, design, and construction. An anomaly in the CVP's labyrinthine history, the Friant Division developed along lines similar to other Reclamation projects in the West. One of three original segments of the CVP, the Friant Division, is separate, simple in design, but has seen it share of the same kinds of controversy plaguing the rest of the project. In spite of the disputes Friant generated, of the top five agricultural producing counties in the nation, three -- Fresno, Tulare and Kern -- are watered by Friant Division facilities. The clear sky, fertile land, and dry air of the southern San Joaquin Valley provide the backdrop where great promises have been met and modest hopes destroyed all in order to create "the richest agricultural region in the history of the world."