Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday relaunched a big California water bill, in what might be cast as the triumph of hope over experience.
Unveiling her third proposal in the past two years for ways to divide California’s water supply among many competing interests, Feinstein packaged her latest 184-page measure as a reasonable compromise that draws the best from past Capitol Hill efforts.
After months of hopeful predictions, El Niño is delivering our state much-needed snow and rain. But with Mother Nature doing her small part to ease the drought, the big question remains:
What will we do to capture excess rain and snow now for use in future times of drought?
We know it makes no sense to waste water, especially as Valley residents endure this terrible drought. Sadly, federal and state regulators are letting this precious moment slip by, letting water flow out to the Pacific Ocean.
The need to find new water sources is critical, according to Stan Williams, vice president of project development for Poseidon Water in Carlsbad.
“Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and all accessible fresh-water resources are already allocated,” Williams told the Rotary Club of Los Altos Jan. 28.
Williams, who moved to the private sector after 13 years as CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, mentioned desalination of seawater as a solution to the state’s pressing water needs.
While temperatures around the Tahoe Basin are forecast to reach close to 15 degrees above average this week — with no precipitation expected — meteorologists and water resource officials say it’s not yet a cause for concern when it comes to the snowpack.
“February is climatologically our best month for accumulation,” Reno National Weather Service meteorologist Justin Norman said, adding, however, “it’s not uncommon to have a dry spell.”
Despite a wet winter, California’s historic drought continues to spark fierce — even bitter — debate over how the state’s water needs should be met in the future.
The core issue is whether we should primarily rely on conservation of what may be a permanently diminished water supply, or make more energetic efforts to increase the supply with new dams and reservoirs, desalination plants, etc.
Introduction of a California water bill in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein will help Congress move toward final legislation that addresses the state’s chronic water shortages, according to the president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.
“Senator Feinstein has never been shy about tackling the tough issues, and we appreciate her work to create a California water bill for the Senate’s consideration,” CFBF President Paul Wenger said. “The Senate must pass this bill so it can advance to a conference committee with the drought bill already passed by the House of Representatives.
This winter’s El Niño has delivered monumental precipitation to the West … up until now. Dry, unseasonably warm weather is blanketing California—Oakland hit a record high of 81 degrees Monday—raising fears the infernal drought might escape with hardly a dent in its hide.
Whether that happens is anybody’s guess. The Climate Prediction Center sees below-average chances of Western rains in the next couple weeks, but there’s always the possibility late-season storms could deliver a soaking. Gamblers wanting to bet on the coming weather might find this NOAA graphic handy, as it illustrates the winter rainfalls that’ve occurred during El Niños back to 1950.
By this point in winter, Southern California was supposed to be dealing with rains and flooding, not brush fires and beach weather.
Yet temperatures have soared this week, breaking records in downtown Los Angeles and other locations across California, with even hotter conditions expected Tuesday. Forecasters warn of more hot winds as well as temperatures that could exceed 90 degrees downtown.
A handful of topics were on the table when candidates for political offices ranging from Congress to county supervisor appealed for support at the San Joaquin County Republican Party’s Candidate Forum.
But one was integral to nearly every stump speech heard Monday at Chez Shari’s at the Manteca Golf Course. Water.
While the current El Nino weather system is expected to improve California’s water outlook for the upcoming year, the four consecutive years of drought has taken its toll on the most integral of natural resources, especially in the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley.
A new state report shows California farmers reaping record sales despite the epic drought, thriving even as city-dwellers have been forced to conserve water, household wells have run dry and fish have died.
California’s 76,400 farms recorded $53.5 billion in sales in 2014, the year Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state in a drought emergency and launched what in 2015 became mandatory conservation for cities and towns. The sales figures are the most recent annual ones released by the state agriculture department.
