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The increasingly unpredictable climate is making growing grapes an increasingly risky and costly business. France recently lost an estimated $2 billion in wine sales after extreme weather decimated the harvest. In 2022, California farmers lost an estimated $1.7 billion to the drought alone, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California.

And despite California’s abnormally wet winter in 2023, which helped replenish reservoirs and groundwater aquifers, experts warn that the wet weather won’t make up for decades of diminished rain and extended periods of drought.

GLOBAL WARMING HAS FOCUSED concern on land and sky as soaring temperatures intensify hurricanes, droughts and wildfires. But another climate crisis is unfolding, underfoot and out of view.

Many of the aquifers that supply 90 percent of the nation’s water systems, and which have transformed vast stretches of America into some of the world’s most bountiful farmland, are being severely depleted. These declines are threatening irreversible harm to the American economy and society as a whole.

While some residents may question if there are too many wells in Napa County, others ask if there are enough. And as of June, there are eight more. Specifically, eight monitoring wells were installed by the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (NCGSA).

Napa County supervisors are immersing themselves in groundwater issues that have implications for both Napa Valley vineyards and the Napa River.

The topic is the Napa Valley subbasin that holds groundwater beneath the valley floor from north of Calistoga to south of the city of Napa. Groundwater irrigates world-famous vineyards. It also feeds streams and the Napa River during hot summer months.

After two multi-year episodes of intense drought over the past decade, there is finally a centralized hub of resources and information for well owners and communities that suffered when their wells went dry. 

Before the most recent drought lifted thanks to this year’s historic winter, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) launched its Be Well Prepared program in May. 

The program came out of a realization that even after three years of drought, well owners and many communities still didn’t know where to turn for assistance, said Mary Fahey, public information officer with DWR. 

Biologist Ashley Wilson carefully disentangled a bat from netting above a tree-lined river and examined the wriggling, furry mammal in her headlamp’s glow. “Another big brown,” she said with a sigh.

It was a common type, one of many Wilson and colleagues had snagged on summer nights in the southern Michigan countryside. They were looking for increasingly scarce Indiana and northern long-eared bats, which historically migrated there for birthing season, sheltering behind peeling bark of dead trees.

The Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling for the plaintiffs in the Sackett vs. EPA case might seem to be the final word in the lengthy and, oftentimes, politically charged debate over what’s included in the term “Waters of the United States.”

While farmers and landowners may have hoped the Court’s May 25 decision would bring an end to the uncertainty over what is included in the definition of navigable waters, those expectations may prove to be a bit rosy.

Rutherford Ranch winery's bid to have more visitors and employees will have a sequel, with water at the heart of the matter.

The Napa County Planning Commission on June 21 approved the winery's growth requests. Water Audit California has appealed the decision to the county Board of Supervisors.

Opposition to the approval focuses on Conn Creek, which Water Audit California said is home to federally protected steelhead trout. The group alleged the county has done too little to ensure Rutherford Ranch groundwater pumping doesn't sap water from the creek.

A new program targeting 1,500 commercial grape growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties and designed to improve water quality in local creeks and rivers is drawing criticism from members of the agricultural community.

The draft rules include reporting requirements, annual fees, well and groundwater monitoring, ground cover requirements and restrictions on wintertime operations that growers deem excessive.

Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it’s piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state’s new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.

Most of California is in recovery mode after a years-long drought plagued the Golden State from 2020 until 2022, which depleted the state’s reservoirs and groundwater resources.

Thanks to the historic wet winter season, many areas, such as Los Angeles, Merced and Alameda countries, are no longer in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

A few miles south of the California-Oregon border, up a remote canyon on the Klamath River, the hum of heavy machinery marks the start of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history.