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Deadly Soberanes Fire North of Big Sur Grows to 40,000 Acres

The deadly wildfire raging north of Big Sur continued to grow in size on Sunday and has now burned 40,000 acres and destroyed nearly 70 structures.

About 5,300 firefighters are battling the Soberanes fire, which is now just 18% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Since it began July 22, the fire has also claimed the life of a bulldozer operator. Pushed by strong southerly winds, the blaze has shifted away from coastal homes and is moving southeast into the heart of the Los Padres National Forest, said Maria Lara, spokeswoman for Cal Fire.

Lake Tahoe’s No Good, Very Bad Year

Lake Tahoe is overheated, underfilled and both its future and renowned crystal blue waters are murkier than normal.

The crown jewel of the Sierras and largest alpine lake in North America had a rough year in 2015, according to the new “State of the Lake” report from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, which finds the lake’s temperature is rising at its fastest rate ever.

Recycled Water Station Opens in Scripps Ranch

Recycled water will be available to San Diego water customers for free beginning Saturday in Scripps Ranch, according to city officials.

The city of San Diego’s public utilities department will offer the water from a fill station at 10137 Meanley Drive on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The water is available at no extra charge to city water customers who present valid billing documentation.

Tahoe’s Rising Water Temp Concerns Scientists

It’s been said that Lake Tahoe is a complex body that man may never understand. That is true; however, UC Davis and Geoff Schladow, the director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center housed at Sierra Nevada College, are doing their best to prove that statement wrong—well, maybe, just a little bit wrong.

It seems that when experts think they’ve finally arrived at data that absolutely cannot be questioned, that same data is put into conflict with the patterns of human action and natural forces.

Did California Stop Mandatory Water Conservation Efforts Too Soon?

A little more than a year ago, California’s Gov. Jerry Brown ordered mandatory water reductions of 25 percent throughout the state. And in some areas, citizens were ordered to reduce consumption by 35 percent. This was all in response to more than four years of severe drought.

However, in June 2016, those mandatory reductions were lifted, mainly because the state was blessed with considerable rainfall the previous winter. As a result, local water agencies were given the authority to determine on their own whether mandatory water reductions were still necessary and, if so, what the amounts should be.

BLOG: Conservation Goals Can Keep California Afloat

Several weeks ago, my daughters “graduated” from the third grade. The final day of the school year was an unusually warm June day, and after pizza and games, their teacher said goodbye for the summer after extracting a solemn promise – to read “at least 10 books” during their time away.

Ten chapter books in 10 weeks, I reminded them on our drive home – a healthy dose, remembering the pile at my bedside. Easy, they promised, no problem.

 

Where are the World’s Most Water-Stressed Cities?

In the southern reaches of Egypt, the city of Aswan is one of the hottest and sunniest in the world. Temperatures reach 41C in the summer and less than a millimetre of rain falls each year. Some years it doesn’t rain at all.

Aswan may be one of the world’s least rainy places, but it’s not even close to being the most water-stressed city. It nestles on the east bank of the Nile, close to the Aswan High Dam and the vast Lake Nasser, one of the largest manmade lakes in the world. With a capacity of 132 cubic km, the dam serves the irrigations needs not just of Aswan, but Egypt and neighbouring Sudan as well.

Warm Water Blob Survives as El Niño Dies

It’s being called a marine heat wave. The combination of the strongest El Niño in recent history and the warm water anomaly known as the Blob generated the greatest amount of warm ocean water that has ever been recorded, possibly affecting marine life up and down the West Coast. New research has now linked the two phenomena, with each believed to be alternately affecting the other through the atmosphere and the ocean. El Niño is the warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and it can affect wind, temperature and precipitation patterns around the globe.

OPINION: Delta Fish Health Vital to All

The drought that has caused profound impacts on California’s residents and businesses has similarly taken a toll on the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem. In a world increasingly sensitive to the warning signs of ecological crisis — including climate change — the effect of the drought on species in the Bay-Delta requires careful attention.

Biologists warn Delta smelt, once the Delta’s most abundant fish, is on the brink of extinction.

 

Why Healthy Forests Mean Better Water Supply

Like many people who work on forestry issues in California, Jim Branham, executive officer of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, is still trying to wrap his head around the drought’s toll on the region’s forests and the 66 million dead trees reported in the Sierra Nevada last month.

“It’s hard to comprehend,” he said, especially considering that in some areas of the Southern Sierra communities may see 85 percent of the trees around them dead or dying. “The magnitude of the problem is staggering,” he said.