A low-interest loan program that supports California water projects has seen three times more requests for money than it has funds available, partly because of surging interest in water recycling.The Clean Water State Revolving Fund exists to help local agencies pay for wastewater treatment plant upgrades, stormwater capture and wildlife habitat projects that improve water quality. Eighty percent of the money in the fund comes from federal appropriations via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the remainder from state appropriations. A separate Drinking Water State Revolving Fund provides grants and loans for drinking water treatment and supply projects.

 

An unseasonably cool weather system dropped rain and hail in parts of Northern California and dusted the Sierra Nevada with snow. Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe tweeted photos of snow on the slopes on Sunday. The National Weather Service says up to 3 inches of snow could fall until midnight. Spotty showers moved across the region, where nearly a half-inch of rain fell in the northern Sacramento Valley. Hail was reported in Chico, about 80 miles north of Sacramento, as well as Rocklin and Folsom Lake.

California’s 2016 Water Year drew to a close Friday, ending a fifth consecutive year marked by meager precipitation that fell more often as rain than snow. Record warm temperatures created an early and below-average runoff that was in large part absorbed by parched soil before ever reaching the State’s reservoirs. The water content of the California Sierra snowpack, often referred to as “the state’s largest reservoir,” flows each spring into a series of above ground storage reservoirs that essentially serve as California’s water savings accounts in order to meet the growing demands of an uncertain climate future.

Every October in California, leaves and temperatures fall, pumpkins dot the fields and college football season takes stride. But despite the trappings of autumn, October is California’s most dangerous month for wildfires, posing a deadly mixture of heavy seasonal winds, unpredictable weather patterns and bone dry vegetation. If history is a guide, the Loma fire, which began burning through a remote corner of the Santa Cruz Mountains on Sept. 25, may not be the end of the Bay Area’s fire threats for the year. It may just be the beginning.