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OPINION: Brown Gets It About Conservation

/in /by /Gazette Newspapers (Long Beach)by By Harry Saltzgaver

I just love Gov. Brown, don’t you? Okay, that’s more than a slight exaggeration, but he did endear himself to me with his executive order regarding water conservation.

Those of you who care about such things might recall Jerry (he calls me Harry — yeah, right) standing in a mountain meadow in spring 2015, staring at bare ground where there should have been several feet of snow. It was the photo op to back up his executive order back then to force urban water users to cut the amount of water they used by 25%.

 

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OPINION: El Niño in the Rearview Mirror

/in /by /Santa Cruz Sentinelby By Gary Griggs

I often ask an audience — what’s the difference between climate and weather? And the short answer is climate is what we predict and weather is what we get. This last winter is a good example of the difference.

One of the largest El Niño events in recent history was predicted for this winter, based on the very large and warm body of ocean water moving towards South America from the western Pacific during summer and fall.

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BLOG: Don’t Punish Taxpayers for Smart, Water Efficient Choices

/in /by /The Hill (Washington, D.C.)by By Jared Huffman and Dana Rohrabacher

As Americans across the country scrambled to get their taxes filed before the midnight deadline last month, many homeowners found themselves with a new reason to feel frustrated.

Their complaint: they may have been hit with a higher tax bill just for working with their local water utility to reduce their water footprint over the last year.

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Why Did El Niño Miss SoCal? It’s Complicated, National Weather Service Says

/in /by /Los Angeles Times by By Joseph Serna

A mix of rising global temperatures, mysteriously warmed waters off Baja California and unusually far-reaching storms in the western Pacific Ocean conspired to block this year’s El Niño storms from hitting Southern California, the National Weather Service said this week.

Despite plenty of indicators suggesting that the 2015-16 El Niño rains would be as strong — if not stronger — than previous Southland El Niños, heavy precipitation failed to materialize. Instead, the storms flowed north from the Bay Area to Washington, drenching the Northern Sierra Nevada and refilling some of the state’s biggest reservoirs.

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Drought Causing Challenges in Agriculture, Though Profits Remain High

/in /by /The Ely Times (Ely, Nev.)by By Ben Rowley

With a long-term drought plaguing much of California and Northern Nevada, the agriculture industry is adjusting and innovating. “[The drought] is one of the worst we’ve had in history,” said UC Davis Professor and watershed expert Jay Lund. “In some ways, particularly up in the watersheds, because it’s been extra warm, it’s among the driest in history.” Lund added, “Some would say even the driest we’ve seen in a thousand years.”

In 2015, snowpack was at record lows in the Sierra Nevada and other western mountain ranges. California’s San Joaquin Valley was probably hit worst by the drought.

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Water Mandates May be Ditched

/in /by /Moorpark Acorn (Camarillo)by By Hector Gonzalez

Southern California’s “Godzilla” El Niño never arrived, but the rain that did fall gave the state some relief from the drought, officials said this week.

Although the southern half of the state missed out on much of the rainfall, the northern half got more than average this winter. And the state did a better job of storing water and ensuring it gets to where it’s needed most, officials said. As a result, regulators in Sacramento will recommend this month that the state stop dictating to municipal water agencies how much water they need to save during the drought, Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, announced Monday.

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A Question for the Ages: Can Congress Pass a California Water Bill?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby By Michael Doyle

California’s two Democratic senators remain somewhat out of sync over proposed water legislation, underscoring its ambiguous future on the eve of a big hearing.

Four months after Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s introduction of her latest California water package, Sen. Barbara Boxer is still evaluating the 185-page bill. Her wait-and-see attitude hints at complex undercurrents, as she supports some parts of Feinstein’s bill while seeking more feedback about other parts.

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BLOG: Major Policy Shift By SoCal Water District Signals Receding Drought

/in /by /Water Online

In a potential sign the drought is easing, the massive water wholesaler in Southern California is no longer planning to limit its regional water deliveries.

“Effective immediately, the Southland cities and water districts that make purchases from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California [MWD] will no longer be subjected to so-called allocations or the punitive surcharges that come with exceeding them,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

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OPINION: Don’t Let Your Water-Saving Habits Dry Up

/in /by /Ventura County Star

Water agencies across California are signaling that we may be able to turn the spigot back on, thanks to a decent wet winter and spring in the northern part of the state.

But the sense that the worst of the drought may be behind us is dangerous. The State Water Resources Control Board — the folks who created the statewide mandatory water restriction numbers — indicated it might be willing to lift the foot off the brake a bit when it meets Wednesday.

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HEMET: Diamond Valley Lake to Reopen to Private Boats

/in /by /The Press-Enterprise (Riverside) by By Craig Shultz

It has been a year since Steven Latino has been able to put his fishing boat on Diamond Valley Lake.

An avid fisherman who happens to be the city engineer for Hemet, Latino said that since the lake was closed to private boats in April 2015 because of low water levels, he has made a few trips to other spots but has mostly kept his boat in the garage. But not for long. The massive drinking-water reservoir will reopen to private boats Wednesday.

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