This evening I attended a meeting with local, county, state, and federal representatives who were discussing the work they are doing in government to help citizens in the Victor Valley area.  One of the main topics of conversation was illegal cannabis grows in the high desert, and the efforts being made by the county and sheriff’s department to tackle the problem.  Sheriff Dicus and a representative from San Bernadino County Code Enforcement talked about the work they have done – a few years ago there were well over a thousand grows in the high desert region, and that is down to a little more than 400 on their so-called “war map”.

However, Don Bartz from Phelan/Pinon Hills Community Service District also made a presentation, talking about some of the problems they are finding after the illegal grows are busted.  It turns out many of these illegal grows have received county permits to dig wells, often without proper CEQA (California Environmenta Quality Act) assessment.  Once the grows are busted, CSD employees are finding wells that have been stripped of their hardware, leaving open holes that go down hundreds of feet directly into the aquifer.

These open wells are surrounded by the hazardous waste these illegal grows create.  Used motor oil, diesel fuel, fertilizer and other chemicals (some illegal in California), and other waste are all lying abandoned near open well shafts.

This is a real concern for Sheep Creek Water Company shareholders.  Many of these grow sites are located in the El Mirage area, and the wells were drawing from and open to the El Mirage Basin.  Currently, Sheep Creek Water Company’s water rights are only applicable in the canyon below Wrightwood, but a close reading of the original water right documentation shows the rights probably extend out to the El Mirage dry lake bed.  We might have to litigate to have our access to the water through the El Mirage Basin, but nonetheless the possiblity exists that these wells could be damaging the aquifer where Sheep Creek Water Company holds water rights.

We have to hope the county gets this problem under control, figures out a better system for cleaning up the illegal grow sites, and also capping the open wells at these grow sites.  We also need the county to stop providing permits for wells without proper due diligence, so we know that it isn’t an illegal cannabis grow digging wells and potentially poisoning our aquifer.  If you are concerned about this, feel free to reach out to our local county representative, Supervistor Paul Cook with your concerns…

Finally, here is a map showing the location of illegal grows and  recently permitted wells in our area…
(click the map or here for a larger image)

 

Ran across this unsettling article the other day. The government has been running tests on the water supply nationally, and has found that 45% of the water that comes out of the tap in America is tainted with forever chemicals, which we have found our just absolutely terrible for human health.

This kind of contamination isn’t a fault of the water company, but instead is usually from industrial pollution, so it happens more often in urban areas. That said, it doesn’t matter where the chemicals come from now that they’re here – we are going to have to deal with the fallout. I don’t know if Sheep Creek Water Company is affected by this, though I wouldn’t be surprised considering where our water comes from…

I’ve quoted part of the article before, but the biggest concern for Sheep Creek customers and shareholders is the following sentence:  “Researchers found the greatest exposures in the Great Plains, Great Lakes, Eastern Seaboard, and Central and Southern California, according to the study.”  Hopefully that’s not us, and if it is, we’d better get this fixed.

https://www.axios.com/2023/07/07/forever-chemicals-tap-water-pfas-study

Study: “Forever chemicals” detected in nearly half of U.S. tap water

At least 45% of U.S. tap water is estimated to be contaminated with “forever chemicals,” according to new U.S. Geological Survey research.
Why it matters: Exposure to certain levels of these synthetic compounds, referred to collectively as PFAS, has been linked to adverse health effects in humans and animals, including an increased risk of cancer.

“Millions of people have been drinking a toxic forever chemical linked to cancer all their lives and are only discovering it today,” Scott Faber, the senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, told the Washington Post Thursday.

What they did: The USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types of these extremely durable chemicals in water samples from more than 700 locations across the U.S. over a five-year period and used the data to estimate PFAS contamination nationwide.

“USGS scientists tested water collected directly from people’s kitchen sinks across the nation, providing the most comprehensive study to date on PFAS in tap water from both private wells and public supplies,” said USGS research hydrologist Kelly Smalling, the study’s lead author, in a statement accompanying the study on Wednesday.

Some troubling news from Sacramento for Sheep Creek Water Company customers.  Three bills currently making the rounds in the legislature – AB 1337, AB 460, and SB 389, all are aimed at curtailing and/or giving the state more power over pre-1914 water rights.  The water rights that SCWC has up in the canyon are indeed pre-1914 water rights, which have been considered very, very strong.  So this move would give the state power to force Sheep Creek to ramp down production, most prominently during a time of water shortage, but theoretically at other times too.

On the one hand, at the moment the company is nowhere close to pulling it’s full 3000 acre-foot allowance from the canyon.  That has been the case for a while, ever since the state placed a compliance order and the moratorium on the company.  That said, this is clearly a move to continue to centralize power of water resources with the state.  California’s government does not have a good relationship with mutual water companies; they would definitely prefer if mutual water companies all went away.  These bills will go a long way to make that more possible, and possibly endanger Sheep Creek’s very existence in a few years.

California water rights at risk as three legislative proposals advance

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/06/water-rights-legislative-proposals-advance/?mc_cid=2bbd438cc3

Although advocates contend that the bills would merely give the water board much-needed managerial tools, a coalition of water districts and agricultural groups see them as a prelude to the wholesale abrogation of their water rights. The board could gain the “potential to strip public agencies of water rights that have been used to sustain communities for decades,” with decrees of “arbitrary outcomes,” they wrote in an opposition letter.

All three measures, Assembly Bill 1337, Assembly Bill 460 and Senate Bill 389, survived initial floor votes but the political battle is just beginning. Their fate could rest in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s hands as powerful interests clash over a bedrock issue – who prevails when there’s not enough water to meet all demands.

(h/t Cheryl Rhoden for this news)

Congratulations to everyone in California who isn’t a Sheep Creek Water Company customer.  The state has announced that 100% of all requested allocations from the State Water Project and Central Valley Water Project are 100% filled for water customers in California.  This wet winter has sure had some lovely surprises between the spring blooms and now full water allocations.

Unless you are a Sheep Creek Water Company water customer, of course.  We are still stuck in what is termed in the bylaws (p. 31) “a severe water supply decrease” and so our water allotment per share remains ridiculously small.  And the moratorium drags on and on…

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A wet California boosts water allocations to 100% for first time in nearly 20 years

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-20/california-boosts-water-allocations-after-wet-winter-full-reservoirs

For the first time since 2006, California officials have increased allocations from the vital State Water Project to 100% of requested supplies, as reservoirs across the state are nearing capacity and an epic snowpack has yet to melt.

An unusually wet winter brought unprecedented snowfall and a succession of heavy rainstorms, pulling much of the state out of a punishing years-long drought and transforming the year’s water outlook.

…

“With reservoirs nearing capacity and snowmelt runoff starting to occur, [the state Department of Water Resources] now expects to deliver 100% of requested water supplies, up from 75% announced in March,” state officials said Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a corresponding increase to 100% of requested water allocations for most regions served by the federal Central Valley Project, which provides critical farming irrigation and water supplies to the San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley.

 

 

I keep track of things Daniel Swain writes about weather, his latest discussion of California weather included a tidbit about a potential “super El Nino” in the next couple of years. I don’t make predictions about the weather, but this could have a positive impact on refilling the source of Sheep Creek’s water supply for a few years.

https://weatherwest.com/archives/25610

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El Niño update: it’s coming.

At this moment in time, no person alive has ever experienced global ocean temperatures as warm as they are today (i.e., the global average SST anomaly has reached record levels in recent days). This is despite remarkably cool patches of water in two regions: the sub-Antarctic eastern Pacific west of South America, and the mid-latitude East Pacific along the coast of western North America (including along the California coast). Nearly everywhere else on Earth, the oceans are presently much warmer than the long-term average–and this is especially true near the west coast of tropical South America near Peru, where SST anomalies are locally in excess of 5C (9F). That is an extraordinary level of oceanic warmth, and is highly suggestive of the early stages of a significant El Niño event.

And indeed: all other indicators also point to a rapidly-developing El Niño in the tropical Pacific. Westerly wind bursts are underway; subsurface warm water is sloshing eastward; and both dynamical models and statistical predictions suggest a very high likelihood of transitioning into El Niño conditions by this summer or autumn at the latest. In fact, dynamical model predictions continue to become more and more aggressive regarding the potential magnitude of the coming El Niño event–with some indicating at least some possibility of a “super El Niño” by next autumn (i.e., one comparable to or greater than the top-tier events that occurred in 82-83, 97-98, and 15-16).

Despite much hype at the moment, it’s important to remember that we do remain on the “wrong side” of the “Spring Predictability Barrier” (during which models sometimes struggle to produce reasonable predictions of what might happen in the coming months). I normally wouldn’t put too much stock into explicit ENSO intensity predictions at this early juncture. However, in this case, there are plenty of ocean-atmospheric dynamical theories that would suggest that the path toward a significant El Niño event is indeed plausible this year–especially all the energy stored in the tropical Pacific Ocean during the remarkable “Triple Dip” (three year long) La Niña event that just ended. So for now, it remains a waiting game…but I do think it’s increasingly likely this will be a major player in California weather starting later this summer and into next autumn/winter. Stay tuned.

Sheep Creek Water Company is fortunate not to need water from the aqueduct. There have been times in the past when the company thought about purchasing aqueduct water, when water supply was really low. Even though the aqueduct runs right through the northern part of Phelan, we don’t use the water, but communities around us definitely do from time-to-time, especially down the hill.

This article is also of note, because the record-breaking amount of snow in the mountains is sure to cause other infrastructure problems. Hopefully it means the Sheep Creek tunnel really starts running at maximum capacity as the melt water seeps through the ground, but there could be issues this year with flooding, mudslides, and other such phenomena as the snow melts.  That said, this is an old company with old infrastructure, just like the aqueduct.  Something to keep an eye on for sure.

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‘We’ve lost the aqueduct’: How severe flooding threatens a Los Angeles water lifeline

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-03-25/eastern-sierra-flooding-threatens-los-angeles-water-lifeline

(alternative link): https://archive.is/G5VdJ

“We’ve lost the aqueduct!” a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power inspector told his superiors by cellphone. As he spoke, chocolate-colored runoff and debris undercut the aqueduct just west of Highway 395 and the community of Olancha.

It was the first time in history that the 200-mile aqueduct had been breached by extreme weather, threatening water deliveries to 4 million ratepayers in Los Angeles.

It was also an indication of just how difficult it would be to defend the waterway against torrential runoff from a winter of near record snowpack. For weeks, DWP crews had been using heavy equipment and other means to control the anticipated spring runoff, but even longtime aqueduct workers were shocked by the suddenness of the break.

…

The DWP’s system is starting to show signs of age. In recent years, several stretches of the aqueduct system have been drained to allow replacement of cracked and bulging sections of century-old concrete.

Since severe storms began lashing the eastern Sierra region in January, the DWP has been relying on tactical strategies developed during epic rainfall that ended a five-year drought in 2017.

DWP crews are racing to clean out clogged culverts, divert excessive runoff into pasturelands and sage plains, and build berms to steer flood water from small towns straddling U.S. Highway 395 including Olancha, Cartago, Lone Pine, Big Pine and Bishop.azing at snow-clad Sierra peaks to the west, Perez said, “If all that snow comes down hot and heavy when the weather warms up, the challenge will be to protect Owens Valley’s communities from flooding.”

Sheep Creek shareholders are like most of the world.  For a long time, the water flowed here, and it seemed unlimited.  Now that problems have started to crop up, we have to do more to take care of this precious resource that has been such a crucial factor in making Phelan the place it is today.

Two-Hour Lines, Packed Rooms Show Urgency at UN Water Meeting

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-23/un-meeting-highlights-lack-of-safe-drinking-water-for-2-billion

The United Nations marked World Water Day on Wednesdayby hosting its first water conference since 1977, and there was clearly pent-up appetite to discuss Earth’s most life-giving element.

The high interest seemed to have caught the international organization off guard. Attendees waited in line for more than two hours to pick up pre-approved passes and crowds packed into too-small rooms for panels

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The problem, de Albuquerque theorizes, is that water is such a basic part of life it tends to be forgotten by those who have access to it. “Water is so obvious,” she said, “that it is hidden.”

Yet another reason to be grateful for the aquifer the Johnson family found up by Wrightwood, and also the work they did (just barely) getting the company secured with a pre-1914 water right and fighting for those water rights in court.  Sheep Creek Water Company has fresh water to serve the community of Phelan, and doesn’t have to import water from the Colorado River or the aqueduct.  The current board hasn’t pursued using that water right, but one thing is sure:  we don’t have to worry about running out of water anytime soon…

This is a real concern for shareholders of Sheep Creek Water Company. One of the reasons for looking at consolidation with PPHCSD was the old infrastructure that will require millions of dollars to replace and/or upgrade. Last month ~30% of Sheep Creek Water Company’s water was lost for various unknown reasons – the system is too old for staff to get an accurate sense of where things are going wrong. 10%-15% water loss for various reasons is normal for most water companies – Sheep Creek is treading on dangerous ground here.

The board has hired a consultant to look for federal grants to help fix the infrastructure, but that’s a tough task considering consolidation was meant to include grants from the state. Doesn’t mean the company won’t qualify for federal grants, but it’s still a tough hill to climb. If the company doesn’t get grants, that means repairs and improvements rest on the backs of a few staff members (just like in this article), and all the costs rest with shareholders and customers of the company.

In Truth or Consequences, N.M., leaking pipes cause millions of gallons of water to go down the drain amid drought

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/truth-consequences-nm-leaking-pipes-cause-millions-gallons-water-go-dr-rcna73629

…amid a worsening regional drought, the town with the curious name is losing 200 million gallons of potable water a year because of antiquated underground pipes that leak, spit and sometimes gush 30 feet into the air, putting not only its nearly 6,000 residents at risk of having their water shut off but also threatening operations at the city’s five public schools and its only hospital and nursing home.

Schools have already been forced to close without warning several times over the last year as water is shut off while repairs are made, city officials said.

…

Millions of gallons, representing 43% of the city’s supply, were lost in the last year as the West struggles under a drought so severe it threatens the power-generating capabilities of lakes Mead and Powell, and is drying up the Colorado River, which provides much of the region’s water.

The situation also reflects the geographic divide in the U.S. as rural communities compete with large metropolitan areas for a chunk of the $555 billion in the federal infrastructure bill to upgrade the country’s aging bridges, roads, levees and pipelines.

Water officials in Truth or Consequences estimate it would cost $150 million to overhaul or replace the deteriorating system. Even patching up the leaks more permanently would cost $20 million, which the city says it can’t afford.

Yet another reason to be grateful for the aquifer the Johnson’s found under Sheep Creek. Also, a reason for us to be ultra-careful protecting that resource for the future…

Water crisis in West has prompted desperate ideas: Drain the Great Lakes, desalinate ocean water

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/04/whats-solution-wests-water-crisis-desperate-ideas-explained/11274700002/

As western water woes continue, some experts and authorities say a national-level problem like this requires an innovative solution.

The U.S. has plenty of drinking water — it’s simply in the wrong place. That’s a seemingly fixable problem that has inspired a number of creative ideas.  Unfortunately, everything except conserving water has proven to be a longshot proposal riddled with logistical, legal or cost problems.

• The problem: The Colorado River is drying up from drought and overuse. It’s the literal lifeblood of the West.
• A rainy year doesn’t solve the water crisis: Rain and snow, particularly in California, has offered temporary relief to water worries. But experts say the water demand in the west is set to keep exceeding supply — unless major conservation efforts successfully roll out.
• Demand remains high: Native American tribes increasingly demanding their legal rights to water, fast-growing Phoenix and Las Vegas are consuming more water to support development and California and Arizona farmers are under increasing pressure to keep food costs low and production high.

Meanwhile, massive amounts of fresh water are readily available to the East. Ocean water can be processed into drinking water. And even glaciers could be helpful sources of fresh water.

More at link…