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Despite Recent Storms, California’s ‘Snow Drought’ Continues

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow and Phillip Reese

Around the start of each year, California water officials make a big show out of measuring the Sierra Nevada snowpack for reporters. Tuesday’s measurement before a throng of cameras was fairly bleak: Water content in the snowpack stood at just 53 percent of average, about a third as much water as the same time last year at that site. But as snowflakes drifted down, Frank Gehrke, director of snow surveys for the Department of Water Resources, struck a positive tone after taking the state’s first official manual snowpack reading of 2017 near Echo Summit.

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Is California’s Drought Ending? Powerful Storms, More On The Way

/in /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

A series of powerful storms is set to soak California over the next week, bringing heavy rains, flooding risk in some creeks and 10 feet or more of new snow to the Sierra Nevada — the latest sign that the stranglehold of the state’s five-year drought is significantly weakening. At least three storms are forecast to crash in from the Pacific Ocean, weather forecasters said Tuesday, dumping 3 to 4 inches of rain on most Bay Area cities by next Monday, and 8 to 10 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Marin hills and Big Sur coast.

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Digging For Signs Of Drought: California Snowpack Comes In Low

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Scott Smith, Rich Pedroncelli, and Emily Guerin

Surveyors plunged a pole into the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Tuesday and took the first manual measurement of the wet season, finding water content was about half of normal as California flirts with a possible sixth year of drought. Surveyors took the reading at 6,000 feet near Lake Tahoe as major cold and windy storms were expected to dump four to five feet of snow through Thursday in areas above 4,500 feet in Northern and central California, while mountain areas below that could get two to three feet, forecasters said.

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Keep The Snow Shovel, Umbrella Handy For Next Couple Of Days In Sierra, Sacramento

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Bill Lindelof and Nashelly Chavez

Gusty winds that blew into the Sacramento area Tuesday afternoon are expected to accompany rain into Wednesday. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for the Central Valley and foothills, effective until 7 a.m. Wednesday, with a forecast for south winds of 15 to 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph. Tuesday’s storm brought rain to Sacramento and snow to the Sierra. As of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, downtown Sacramento had recorded 0.36 inches of rain since midnight, with 0.38 reported at Sacramento Executive Airport, said Johnnie Powell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Sacramento International Airport recorded 0.72 inches, while 0.51 inches was reported in Roseville.

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Is California’s Drought Ending? Powerful Storms, More On The Way

/in /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

A series of powerful storms is set to soak California over the next week, bringing heavy rains, flooding risk in some creeks and 10 feet or more of new snow to the Sierra Nevada — the latest sign that the stranglehold of the state’s five-year drought is significantly weakening. At least three storms are forecast to crash in from the Pacific Ocean, weather forecasters said Tuesday, dumping 3 to 4 inches of rain on most Bay Area cities by next Monday, and 8 to 10 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Marin hills and Big Sur coast.

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California’s Stormwater Regulations Are Themselves a Toxic Mess

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

Thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – of California businesses are polluting streams, bays and the ocean, but state environmental regulators don’t know how many companies are doing how much damage. In places like Logan Heights or National City, industry-filled neighborhoods send metals and toxic chemicals into the water, helping to ruin it for humans and poison it for marine life. An entire regulatory system exists to prevent this – to keep businesses honest, residents safe and fish alive. That system is a mess.

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L.A. County Is Looking To Local Sources For Water. Is A South Bay Desalination Plant The Answer?

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Matt Stevens Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

On a picturesque summer afternoon, West Basin Municipal Water District officials chose to woo regulators with a stroll by the beach in El Segundo, stopping to admire an unadulterated strip of California coastline.  “It is beautiful,” said Diane Gatza, West Basin’s water resources engineer. A few hours later, environmental advocates held a town hall two miles away in Manhattan Beach. “The reason we’re here is West Basin Municipal Water District is proposing a … desal plant,” said Bruce Reznik, head of Los Angeles Waterkeeper.

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Water Rates Going Up 6.9% For Residential, 8.3% For Growers

/in /by /Valley Roadrunner (Valley Center)by David Ross Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Your water rates are going up after January 1. Here’s why. Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD) customers in 2017 will be hit by a series of water rate and fixed charge increases after the first of the New Year that are all higher than the annual rate of inflation, but which reflect real price increases that the district must make up since deficit spending is not a viable option.

 

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Newly Elected Helix Water Board Member Resigns

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Karen Pearlman

Newly elected Helix Water District Board member Luis P. Tejeda has announced his resignation effective immediately. In an email letter to Board President Joel Scalzitti, Tejeda said he was stepping down because new business opportunities could present a conflict of interest in his role as a board member. Tejeda, who earned 5,636 votes in the district’s Division 1 area, beat Dan McMillan (5,451 votes), incumbent John Linden (3,963) and Aaron Zajac (795) in November. Division 1 customers live north of Interstate 8 in El Cajon, and include the Fletcher Hills and Bostonia neighborhoods.

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Drought Improvement Should Accelerate With Series of Storms Expected in Northern California

/in /by /KTLA

The slow but steady improvement in California’s drought picture should accelerate in the new year with a series of storms that are expected to dump rain and snow in Northern California. The northern half of the state has already seen impressive rains this fall and winter, filling reservoirs and replenishing the Sierra snowpack, a key source of water for California cities and farmlands.

 

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