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How Water Restrictions Are Changing, Depending on Where You Live

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Water agencies across California are relaxing the water use restrictions they imposed last year. But what does that mean for you? In San Diego County, there was basically enough water despite the drought to meet the region’s demands, but people still obeyed Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandate to cut water use by 25 percent. Now that winter snow and rain prompted the state to ease drought regulations, the biggest benefit may be to homeowners with lawns.

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California’s $15.7 Billion Water Project Inches Forward

/in /by /The Bond Buyer (New York)

The controversial $15.7 billion plan to build two giant water tunnels in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is moving closer to reality though huge financial and legal challenges loom.

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BLOG: Feds Take New Look at Delta, Endangered Fish Species

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Dale Kasler

Scientists from two federal agencies are about to overhaul the rules governing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, potentially increasing protections for endangered fish populations and limiting the amount of water pumped to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will re-examine the nearly decade-old environmental regulations covering the Delta water pumps – rules that some experts say have been rendered nearly obsolete by drought and the devastation of endangered species. The old rules will remain in effect during the review, which could take two years or longer.

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Colorado River More Important Than Ever

/in /by /The Desert Independent (Blythe)

Ongoing attention to the Colorado River emphasizes its crucial role as the “lifeblood” that sustains millions of Americans across dozens of cities and countless farms in the American West. For the seven states that comprise the Colorado River Basin—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming—the Colorado River has stimulated growth and opportunity for generations. Today it is as important as ever for leaders, residents and visitors to this beautiful and dynamic region of the country. 

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VIDEO: Killing The Colorado

/in /by /Discovery

The American West is in the midst of a serious drought – which compounds the underlying water crisis that stems from overdevelopment, misuse, and political maneuvers carried out long ago. This documentary examines the causes and consequences.

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Environmentalists Skeptical of California’s $15 Billion ‘Water Fix’

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

California’s ambitious $15 billion plan to tunnel below the largest freshwater estuary on the West Coast in hopes of fixing its water woes will “minimize” effects on endangered salmon, state officials said Tuesday — though environmentalists doubt it. The California Department of Water Resources said the controversial project will give officials more flexibility in monitoring and controlling water temperatures in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and protect juvenile Chinook salmon from river pumping stations. The department released its latest biological assessment of the project, which must be approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

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OPINION: O.C. Needs Desalination like it Needs Another Housing Development

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Adriana Maestas

California has never been a stranger to environmental justice problems – at one point or another our communities, including farmworkers, families and students have had to fight against the health impacts caused by poisons in pesticides, persistent industrial contaminants produced by refineries, decades of urban oil drilling and toxic battery recycling operating next to their homes and schools, as well as fracking and poor air quality, to name a few..

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Discovery Channel’s Killing the Colorado to Tell True Story of American West’s Crippling Water Crisis

/in /by /Broadway World (New York)

Water once an abundant necessity is now a scarce and complex commodity. Many efforts have been made to curb excessive water use in the West, but will taking shorter showers and ripping out lawns really make a difference? While recent drought conditions have diminished the once-mighty Colorado River – the source of the vast majority of the West’s water, experts are now wondering whether the most severe shortages have been caused not by weather or consumer choices but by short-sighted policies and poor planning. Did we engineer our way into this crisis? Can we engineer our way out?

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California Drought Increases Bear Encounters With Humans

/in /by /KCRA (Sacramento)by Mike Luery

A cellphone video that has been seen more than 5 million times after KCRA 3 shared it on Facebook Tuesday. It shows a mother bear and her two cubs swimming at Pope Beach in Lake Tahoe, near Camp Richardson. It’s not every day you see a family of bears playing in a public lake — unless you’re a biologist. “At Lake Tahoe, we get bears down at the lake frequently,” said Jason Holley, a supervising wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 

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BLOG: New Program Pays Central Valley Farmers to Grow Wildlife Habitat

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tara Lohan

California’s drought is taking its toll on wildlife. Years of sub-par precipitation have cut the amount of water available for wildlife refuges that supply critical habitat and food for waterfowl and other migratory birds. Reduced river flows are pushing endangered fish species to the brink. Riparian forests have also been impacted by the drought, as well as by groundwater over-pumping. As well as the drought, increased development, population growth, pollution and other pressures have almost eliminated most of the vital riparian and wetland habitat that a number of endangered species need to survive.

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