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SSJID: Plan Is About Taking Water, Period

It’s about taking water and not about fish. South San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Peter Rietkerk made it clear that is the district’s view of the State Water Board move to mandate unimpaired flows of 40 percent on the Stanislaus, Merced, and Tuolumne rivers between February and June. Rietkerk spoke before the Ripon Rotary Club at its Wednesday noon meeting at Spring Creek Country Club.

California’s Dire Drought Message Wanes, Conservation Levels Drop

Remember the California drought? It was all over the news a year ago, when the state took the unprecedented step of mandating statewide water cutbacks. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was at its lowest recorded level. Rivers and reservoirs were getting shallower and shallower. Wells in rural towns were literally running dry. That drought is still very much a thing. More than 62 percent of California remains in severe to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. And without a wet winter the state could be facing a sixth-consecutive year of severe drought.

California Today: The Drought Isn’t Going Away. What You Can Do.

The drought is not going away. Adam Nagourney, the Los Angeles bureau chief, traveled to a Central Valley farming community that became a national symbol of the drought. He wrote on Wednesday about a setback in Californians’ efforts to conserve water that has some experts worried. While the situation has improved since last year, meteorologists say we are a long way from replenishing our groundwater supplies and reservoirs. And the drought shows no sign of ending.What does this all mean for Californians?

BLOG: The Big Shortage: How Drought Is Impacting Water Investment Markets

For those with a financial stake in water, drought can mean boom or bust, depending on the investment. And even without a specific market to trade water, there are numerous ways to invest in it – from buying land with water rights to stocks in water-dependent companies to municipal bonds. Take Michael Burry, for instance, the hedge fund manager featured in the book and movie “The Big Short” who outsmarted the subprime housing market crash. The end of the movie includes the line: “Michael Burry is focusing all of his trading on one commodity: Water.”

Colorado River Delta Flows Help Birds, Plants, Groundwater

Two growing seasons after the engineered spring flood of the Colorado River Delta in 2014, the delta’s birds, plants and groundwater continue to benefit, according to the latest monitoring report prepared for the International Boundary and Water Commission by a binational University of Arizona-led team. “This short-term event has had lasting consequences. This really demonstrates that a little bit of water does a lot of environmental good,” said Karl W. Flessa, UA professor of geosciences and co-chief scientist of the Minute 319 monitoring team.

 

Does Wet Start To Season Bode Well For California’s Drought?

We are far from out of the woods when it comes to California’s historic drought. But forecasters gave a glimmer of hope with the first winter weather prediction of the season.The forecast doesn’t bode well for seeing major drought relief and actually may expand the drought a bit in the southeast. But while we have equal chances of wetter or dryer precipitation in California, the state has had a pretty good start to rainfall in October. An atmospheric river of moisture started the wet season.

 

 

 

Winter Outlook: Warm South; Cooler North; Murky In Middle

Federal forecasters predict this winter may paint the U.S. in stripes of different weather: Warmer and drier than normal in the south, and colder and wetter than usual in the far north. The National Weather Service winter outlook , issued Thursday, gets murky in the nation’s middle belt, with no particular expectation for trends in temperature or precipitation. Still, some nasty storms might make the winter there memorable, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

California’s Dire Drought Message Wanes, Conservation Levels Drop

Remember the California drought? It was all over the news a year ago, when the state took the unprecedented step of mandating statewide water cutbacks. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was at its lowest recorded level. Rivers and reservoirs were getting shallower and shallower. Wells in rural towns were literally running dry. That drought is still very much a thing. More than 62 percent of California remains in severe to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. And without a wet winter the state could be facing a sixth-consecutive year of severe drought.

Drought’s Grip On Southern California To Tighten With La Niña, Forecasters Say

After five years of withering drought, government forecasters say California is once again headed for a warm and dry winter, especially in Southern California.  The National Weather Service issued its winter outlook Thursday and predicted that La Niña conditions in the Pacific will affect the U.S. in a number of ways. Specifically, the U.S. will likely experience warmer and drier conditions than normal in the South, and colder and wetter than usual conditions in the far north.

Here’s How the Drought Is Impacting Investment Markets

For those with a financial stake in water, drought can mean boom or bust, depending on the investment. And even without a specific market to trade water, there are numerous ways to invest in it – from buying land with water rights to stocks in water-dependent companies to municipal bonds. Take Michael Burry, for instance, the hedge fund manager featured in the book and movie “The Big Short” who outsmarted the subprime housing market crash. The end of the movie includes the line: “Michael Burry is focusing all of his trading on one commodity: Water.”