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Reclamation: Stormwater Capture And Recharge Critical To Sustain Water Supplies In Los Angeles Area

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Estevan López has released the Los Angeles Basin Study that looks at the changing demographics, climate change and competing interests for available water supplies and identifies options to meet the water needs of the Los Angeles area into the future. The study found that there is a potential water supply deficit for the region of approximately 160,000 acre-feet-per year by 2035 and 440,000 acre-feet-per-year or 25-percent less water than the region is projected to need in 2095.

BLOG: Water Recycling May Prompt New Environmental Concerns

Wastewater recycling is being hailed in many communities as the answer to ongoing drought problems. By cleaning sewage effluent to extract pure water, it’s possible to create a sustainable water supply that is cheaper than seawater desalination or buying a new water supply. But there’s a little-recognized downside to water recycling: It may damage wildlife habitats already imperiled by water scarcity.

One of Three Major U.S. Drought Areas Will Improve

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows roughly 11 percent of the contiguous United States is under what it calls “severe, extreme, or exceptional” drought. The areas where the drought continues to be in control include three different areas of the country. Rebecca Lindsey is the Managing Editor of Climate dot Gov, and she said one of the more prominent drought areas includes the southeast United States. That area has been in the news as wildfires have recently burned over 80,000 acres of land. Southern California has been suffering from a drought for the past five years and it continues today.

Weak La Nina Expected To Bring More Now Than Normal

Sea-surface temperatures are very different today than they were a year ago. Scientists say that we have a weak cooler than normal sea-surface temperature event, La Nina, in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Over the past year, there has been a rapid cooling and warming of ocean waters. I’ve been studying sea-surface temperatures for over 30 years and it’s one of the craziest ocean temperature fluctuations I’ve seen. What used to take years for ocean waters to warm and cool is now happening within months.

 

Major California River Adding Key Ingredient: Water

A decade ago, environmentalists and the federal government agreed to revive a 150-mile stretch of California’s second-longest river, an ambitious effort aimed at allowing salmon again to swim up to the Sierra Nevada foothills to spawn. A major milestone is expected by the end of the month, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the stretch of the San Joaquin River will be flowing year-round for the first time in more than 60 years. But the goal of restoring native salmon remains far out of reach. The original plan was to complete the task in 2012.

 

Messy Storm To Give Way To Warm Thanksgiving

Wintry weather did a hit-and-run job on Southern California this week, bringing the season’s first notable snowfall to the mountains and leaving behind and a modest amount of havoc Sunday and Monday, before vanishing. In the storm’s wake: more agreeable travel weather heading into the holiday. “It looks like pretty nice weather for Thanksgiving,” said Stephen Harrison, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Ag At Large: California Farmers Accept Political Change

Since the presidential election, several opinion pieces have appeared that offer a farmer view of the result. Not one has confined it to views that might be held only by farmers in California. Into that vast abyss tumbles today’s Ag at Large, sustained by several direct expressions from farmer friends before the election, comments from them since, and a kind of compilation of attitudes formed from years of associating with and listening to them.

First ‘Winter-Like’ Storm Of The Season Hits San Diego

San Diego experienced its first “winter-like” storm of the season on Monday, giving people an excuse to finally bring out the winter sweaters and umbrellas.San Diego resident Tiffany Epps recently had to purchase a new umbrella because hers broke. “I seen they had a pink one and I was like this is perfect. I’m going to grab this one before somebody else does,” Epp said.Rancho Bernardo resident Mandana Soltani, and her young son Nikhal, spent the day at Balboa Park where it rained on and off all day. Soltani says she loves the rain.

 

Economics Of State’s Water Grab Don’t Add Up

Les Grober, deputy director of the State Water Resources Control Board, said his agency had done “more than was required” in studying the impacts of the state’s water grab on our rivers. But what became clear during a daylong public session in Modesto was that his agency hasn’t done as much as it should have.Rod Smith, who earned his doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago, had some pointed questions for the bevy of state officials who attended Friday. He started by asking about the state’s assumptions on volatility and reliability.

 

Rain Triggers 570% Surge In Los Angeles County Freeway Crashes

A weekend rainstorm that drenched Southern California and triggered hundreds of freeway crashes will disappear by the afternoon and make way for cool, autumn weather on Thanksgiving, the National Weather Service said Monday. Over Sunday and Monday, the storm dumped more than two inches of rain in San Luis Obispo County and more than an inch at Brentwood’s Getty Center in Los Angeles County, where a surge in car crashes left freeways intermittently jammed, authorities said.