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No Bounceback For Delta Fish

The Delta smelt has survived 2016, but that’s about where the good news ends. Surveys that wrapped up this month revealed no real increase in smelt numbers despite a wetter year with more freshwater flow in the Delta. In fact, the smelt’s situation may actually have gotten worse: For the first time since the extensive fish surveys began in the late 1960s, officials found smelt just one month out of four. In their many hours spent trawling the Delta with nets from September through December, they found a total of seven smelt, all of them in November.

 

Billions Of Dollars At Stake Over County Water Authority, MWD Legal Battle

“Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” Whether or not Mark Twain coined the term, the axiom rings true, especially in the West and specifically the water war between the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The battle raging between the two entities has resulted in higher water rates for customers in San Diego County. In November, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District Board of Directors (the City Council), approved rate increases stemming from a cost of service study.

Surveying the Colorado River Aqueduct

During the 1920s, the city of Los Angeles was burgeoning. Demographics were changing and geographic boundaries were being pushed out in all directions. Oil was booming, industrialization was in full swing, and water was in high demand. Southern California was very dry and thirsty, on the heels of a drought and on the verge of the Great Depression. Importing water to its residents was a high priority, and in many ways, circumstances then were comparable to California’s present-day drought scenario.

High Demand, Low Supply: Colorado River Water Crisis Hits Across The West

The Colorado River is like a giant bank account for seven different states. Now it’s running short. For decades, the river has fed growing cities from Denver to Los Angeles. A lot of the produce in supermarkets across the country was grown with Colorado River water. But with climate change, and severe drought, the river is reaching a crisis point, and communities at each end of it are reacting very differently. Just outside Boulder, Colo., surrounded by an evergreen forest, is Gross Reservoir.