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Method Could Help Enhance Water Storage

A study underway in the Russian River watershed is looking at ways to ensure flood safety while improving water supply reliability for farmers, fisheries and communities. Using a method called “forecast informed reservoir operations,” or FIRO, the study is testing an evolving strategy that uses advances in technology and science to forecast weather and watershed conditions more accurately, in order to anticipate runoff into storage.

The study is being watched closely by managers of other reservoirs, to see if the technique could be applied more widely in California and the West.

 

Lawmakers Seek Vote on $15B Calif. Water Plan

California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would put on hold Gov. Jerry Brown’s contentious $15 billion water plan unless it gets approval from voters. The bill is one of several challenges to the California WaterFix. Along with voter approval, it would require the state to perform and release a cost-benefit analysis.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan would build massive, 30-mile-long twin tunnels underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The state released a 48,000-page environmental impact report on the giant Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Peripheral Canal last year.

Global warming has made the weather better for most in U.S. — but don’t get used to it, study says

Since Americans first heard the term global warming in the 1970s, the weather has actually improved for most people living in the U.S. But it won’t always be that way, according to a new study.

Research shows Americans typically — and perhaps unsurprisingly — like warmer winters and dislike hot, humid summers. And they reveal their weather preferences by moving to areas with conditions they like best.

A new study in the journal Nature has found that 80% of the U.S. population lives in counties experiencing more pleasant weather than they did 40 years ago.

Garden-Friendly Plant Sale Returns to Encinitas Home Depot

Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Home Depot have once again teamed up to kick off the spring season with the semi-annual Garden-Friendly Plant Sale and Fair on Saturday, April 30 at the Encinitas Home Depot. All area residents are invited to attend this popular event, which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

With California’s historic drought in its fifth year, adjusting landscapes to reduce water consumption is important as ever.

Sacramento Water Agencies Push to End Drought Conservation Orders

Sacramento-area water districts urged state regulators Wednesday to release their customers from Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency urban water conservation order, contending that a relatively wet winter has made continued cutbacks unnecessary.

Local water officials made their case before the State Water Resources Control Board during a hearing Wednesday. The board was soliciting input on whether to revise, relax or rescind the mandates that flowed from the emergency order Brown issued last spring requiring California cities to reduce water use by an average of 25 percent compared with 2013. The board is expected to announce its proposed revisions in early May.

California rethinks approach to conserving water in drought

Water providers throughout California said Wednesday they want to decide how much water their customers need to conserve during the ongoing drought rather than take orders from the state.

Californians remain under strict state conservation orders that have caused many residents to take shorter showers and let their lawns turn brown even as drought conditions ease.

The State Water Resources Control Board held an informational workshop in Sacramento to chart the future of urban water conservation measures. Regulators are considering if they should toss out the restrictions or dramatically change them.

WEATHER: Who’s to Blame for Faulty Local El Niño Predictions?

A rainy season that began with much El Niño-fueled promise is speeding to a dry and disappointing end. And now the blame game is beginning as weather experts try to figure out what went wrong — at least in Southern California.

This week, the National Weather Service posted a 17-minute video addressing the question of why the mysterious climate phenomenon marked by unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean didn’t deliver drenching rain to the region, as expected.

 

BLOG: Lawmakers Seek Vote On $15B Calif. Water Plan

California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would put a on hold Gov. Jerry Brown’s $15 billion water plan unless it gets approval from voters.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan would build massive, 30-mile-long twin tunnels underneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Last year, the state released a 48,000-page environmental impact report on the project. Critics and environmentalists obect to the plan, stating that it would not create more water for the drought-stricken state.

Garden-Friendly Plant Sale Returns to Encinitas Home Depot

Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Home Depot have once again teamed up to kick off the spring season with the semi-annual Garden-Friendly Plant Sale and Fair on Saturday, April 30 at the Encinitas Home Depot. All area residents are invited to attend this popular event, which runs from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

With California’s historic drought in its fifth year, adjusting landscapes to reduce water consumption is important as ever. Fair attendees can find tremendous value in consulting landscape industry experts who will be on hand to offer free advice on water-efficient landscape design and irrigation.