You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Controlled Colorado River Flooding Released Stored Greenhouse Gases

/in /by /Phys.org (United Kingdom)

The 2014 experimental controlled pulse of water to the Colorado River Delta has revealed an interesting twist on how large dry watercourses may respond to short-term flooding events: the release of stored greenhouse gases. This work is reported at the Goldschmidt conference in Yokohama, Japan.

As presenter Dr Thomas Bianchi said: “We saw a rapid release of greenhouse gases (CH4 and CO2) from the riverbed sediments to the floodwaters. These gases were largely derived from carbon which had been stored in the dry riverbed, perhaps for decades”.

Full Story

California Today: Wildfires, Earlier Than Ever

/in /by /The New York Timesby Ian Lovett

California is no longer facing an acute drought. But we’re waking this morning to a vivid reminder of another environmental threat.

Major wildfires, from the Mexican border to Oregon, burned through the weekend. And it’s only the start of summer. The largest fire, in Kern County near Bakersfield, spread quickly, destroying at least 250 structures and killing at least two people.

Full Story

Watering Restrictions Eased in Poway

/in /by /The San Diego Union Tribuneby J. Harry Jones

Lawn watering restrictions mandated after years of devastating drought will soon be eased in Poway.

Instead of being allowed to water only twice a week, for 10 minute intervals per sprinkler station, customers will be allowed to water three times a week starting almost immediately, the Poway City Council decided last week. Assistant City Manager Tina White said within days papers will be signed allowing city water customers to water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between the hours of 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

 

Full Story

Drought-Hit California Has a Bonanza of Water—Underground

/in /by /Timeby Justin Worland

Part of the solution to California’s demand for water in the face of the state’s crippling drought may lie 10,000 feet beneath the surface of the state’s Central Valley. New research published in the journal PNAS suggests that the region’s aquifers, areas deep underground where water can collect, have three times the usable groundwater as previously estimated.

“It’s not often that you find a ‘water windfall,’ but we just did,” said study author Robert Jackson, a professor at Stanford University, in a press release. “There’s far more fresh water and usable water than we expected.”

Full Story

California May Have a Huge Groundwater Reserve that Nobody Knew About

/in /by /The Washington Postby Chris Mooney Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

In a surprising new study, Stanford researchers have found that drought-ravaged California is sitting on top of a vast and previously unrecognized water resource, in the form of deep groundwater, residing at depths between 1,000 and nearly 10,000 feet below the surface of the state’s always thirsty Central Valley.

The resource amounts to 2,700 billion tons of freshwater, mostly less than about 3,250 feet deep, according to the paper published Monday in the influential Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Full Story

California Has a Lot More Water Than Some Think, New Stanford Study Suggests

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Shelby Grad

Drought-stricken California might have a hidden water bonanza. A Stanford University study released Monday said the state has three times more groundwater located in deep aquifers than earlier estimated.

The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said this water source is much deeper than traditional aquifers and that tapping it would likely require a lot of money and engineering expertise.

Full Story

Los Angeles Dispenses Free Recycled Water to Its Residents

/in /by /CityLab (Washington, D.C.)by Eillie Anzilotti

California may have lifted its emergency water-use restrictions in May, but that doesn’t mean the region’s dry spell has ended. It’s just no longer what Felicia Marcus of the state water board described to Time as “the-worst-snowpack-in-500-years drought.”

Now that the past year’s El Nino rainstorms have brought some life back into the west coast lands, California cities and residents are working to implement water conservation practices as a part of everyday life. A new program from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is one such case in point.

Full Story

California’s Wildfire Fueled by Dead Trees

/in /by /The Wall Street Journalby Jennifer Calfas

Drought, extreme heat and high winds have fueled wildfires across the western U.S. this month. But another enemy is driving California’s most destructive blaze of the fire season so far: tens of millions of dead trees.

Full Story

How Much Water are Top Suppliers Committing to Save This Year? Zilch.

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

A year after California attacked the drought with an unprecedented water rationing program that drove cities and towns to cut back 24 percent collectively, state officials have changed course and given local agencies the leeway to come up with their own water-saving goals.

Full Story

Reclamation Announces $3 Million in Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency Grants

/in /by /Imperial Valley News

The Bureau of Reclamation announces the selection of three California water districts to receive $3 million total in Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency grants for Fiscal Year 2016. The grants, combined with local cost share contributions, total more than $6 million slated for water management improvement projects to be implemented during the next two years.

The AWCE program is a joint effort with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to promote district level water conservation improvements that facilitate on-farm water use efficiency and conservation projects. With NRCS support, Reclamation selected three projects for funding.

Full Story