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Big Improvement in California’s Drought Status

/in /by /ABC10 (Sacramento)by By Rob Carlmark

The 4 year historic drought in California has seen some major improvement this rainy season and millions of people are seeing slow but steady recovery. An update to the U.S. drought monitor came out this morning and declared a large area of Central California, from roughly Sacramento to Fresno, slightly improved regarding the drought.

They have many classifications of drought, but the top level drought is called D4-Exceptional drought.  At the beginning of the water year for California in October, 46 percent of the state was in top level drought.  With the latest update, we are now down to 21 percent.

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State Drought Driving Longer Wildfire Season

/in /by /KSBY (San Luis Obispo) by By Angel Russell

There was once a time when fire season in California started in May and went to September. The state’s long-standing drought has turned the season into a year-round issue. “This time, now, we see the vegetation is ready to burn,” said Paul Lee, Battalion Chief for CAL FIRE.

Fire crews battled blazes on Thursday in Los Osos and Gaviota. Vegetation off Los Osos Valley Road caught fire around 1 p.m., burning eight acres before crews contained it. “The fire was a result of an escaped control burn that spread quickly with the strong winds,” said Lee.

 

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State Ups Its Water Allocation for Southern California

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee by By Ryan Sabalow

In another sign that the so-called “Miracle March” storms in Northern California helped ease the state’s drought, farms and cities reliant on the State Water Project learned Thursday that they’ll likely get 60 percent of the water deliveries they requested from the state, an increase from a month ago.

As water rushed into northern reservoirs last month, state officials said contractors would receive 45 percent of what they requested for 2016 from the state-run delivery network that includes the California Aqueduct. They upped that estimate Thursday to reflect the continued strength of reservoir storage.

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Is California’s Drought Finally Over? Officials Call for an End to Emergency Cuts in Water Use After ‘March Miracle’ Rainfall

/in /by /Daily Mail (London)by By Chris Pleasance

Officials in California are calling for an end to emergency drought restrictions requiring residents to make steep cuts in their water use after better-than-expected winter rains.

Local water suppliers said that ‘it doesn’t feel like an emergency anymore’ after rainfall arriving off the back of a record-breaking El Nino left many reservoirs at levels not seen since 2011. While regulators at the Association of California Water Districts admit some parts of the state are still badly in need of more rain, they say a sweeping state-wide order on water use is no longer needed.

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VC and region dodge a bullet: MWD doesn’t adopt huge change

/in /by /Valley Road Runner (Valley Center) Quoted: Mark Weston

Last week the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) board did not take the action that many local water agencies, including Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD) had feared, i.e. adopting a Fixed Treatment Charge.

On April 12 the MWD board voted not to implement the fixed treatment charge at least for a 2-year period. MWD rates are going up, effective January 1, 2017, but not to the degree that had been discussed as recently as a week ago.

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Method Could Help Enhance Water Storage

/in /by /Ag Alert (Sacramento)by By Kate Campbell

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.

 

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Lawmakers Seek Vote on $15B Calif. Water Plan

/in /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)by By Nick Cahill

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.

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

/in /by /The Los Angeles Timesby Sean Greene

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.

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Garden-Friendly Plant Sale Returns to Encinitas Home Depot

/in /by /Encinitas Patchby Jamie Wilkins Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

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.

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Sacramento Water Agencies Push to End Drought Conservation Orders

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

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.

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