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OPINION: California Can Revive San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary

Starved of freshwater inflow from the Central Valley rivers that feed it, the San Francisco Bay-Delta is on the verge of collapse. This iconic estuary, which defines our region, has been neglected for too long. Fortunately, the state Water Board is poised to provide relief by updating the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan. Phase 1 of the plan calls for requiring 40 percent of unimpaired flow (what would occur in the absence of dams and diversions) between February and June on the lower San Joaquin River and its three major tributaries.

Feb. 28 Is Final Day To Join Water-Rights Lawsuit

In fall of 2013, Protect Our Water Rights (POWR), a group of North County landowners, united to, “protect its members’ legally predominant rights to reasonably use the water beneath their lands.” After three years of litigation, the window for landowners to join the lawsuit as part of the POWR group is closing.

How Full Are Northern California Reservoirs and Rivers?

These three graphs show key California reservoir conditions and river stages for the upper and lower Sacramento Valley. The images are from the California Department of Water Resources’ Data Exchange Center and the National Weather Service.

 

OPINION: Oroville Shows Officials Have Focused On False Choices Over California’s Water System

After six years of drought and a few months of flooding, California’s decades-long political commitment to ideology of being either for the environment or against progress has endangered the state’s water supply system and is threatening public safety, environmental health and economic stability. Rather than upgrade California’s water collection and delivery systems, for 50 years state bureaucrats, political appointees and many elected officials focused their priorities on an onslaught of environmental standards, regulations, projects and programs committed to their rose-colored-glasses vision of California.

 

‘Biggest Storm Of Winter’ To Unleash Flooding Rain In California At Week’s End

A new train of storms has arrived along the Pacific coast, and a potent one is set to hit California hard with heavy rain, mountain snow and strong winds during the latter part of this week. The first storm will focused on areas from Northern California to Washington during Wednesday and Thursday. The second storm in the series will focus most of its moisture on Central and Southern California from Thursday night to Saturday.

Powerful Weekend Storm on Way to San Diego

A powerful winter storm will move into Southern California Thursday night, bringing the potential for heavy rain and high winds through the weekend. The brunt of the storm system won’t arrive until Friday when moderate to heavy rainfall is expected to fall across San Diego County. Coastal areas could see with 1 to 3 inches of rain. “Usually, our winter storms provide the bulk of rain in the mountains,” said NBC 7 Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh. “But, this time, even our coastline is expecting heavy rain & high winds.”

OPINION: Dam Officials Should’ve Listened To Those Warnings About Oroville. Now We’re Stuck With The Tab

Climate change did not produce California’s winter flooding that abruptly ended a devastating drought. That weather swing is just how California works. California has endured rotating cycles of wet and dry periods throughout its history. If there are weeks of deluge, a severe drought is on the way. It happens every decade or so. But climate change will bring more frequent and robust cycles of extreme weather. Bet on it. “All of our climate change calculations suggest wetter wets and drier dries,” says Jeffrey Mount, a water expert at the Public Policy Institute of California.

OPINION: Oroville Dam Warns About Importance Of Investing In Infrastructure

Almost 200,000 residents near Oroville Lake evacuated their homes at the order of the California Office of Emergency Services an multiple other law enforcement agencies due to the possibility of the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway failing. Standing at 770 feet tall, the Oroville dam is the tallest in the United States. Continuous flood control released onto the spillway caused by recent heavy rains damaged the dam’s main spillway, and engineers were forced to limit its use.

‘I Will Not Stay Here’: Life Near California’s Oroville Dam Is Now Shadowed By Fear

Northern California residents, who had spent days at evacuation shelters, were allowed to return to their homes but many stayed only long enough to pack valuables before fleeing an approaching storm that will test recently repaired spillways at the nation’s tallest dam. Authorities say the immediate danger has passed for the nearly 200,000 people living downstream of the Oroville Dam. They said the Lake Oroville water level was 26 feet below the emergency spillway by Wednesday night.

Oroville Dam Update: Atmospheric River Looms As Spillway Continues To Dump Water Into Feather River

The water level at Lake Oroville continued to drop Thursday as state officials pressed on with the effort to drain the reservoir in light of a forecast calling for an “atmospheric river” to strike the area beginning Monday. The lake level fell by nearly 5 feet in the 12-hour period ending at 8 a.m., dropping to below 869 feet. That was about 32 feet below the top of Oroville Dam even as the first in a series of storms hit the Oroville region late Wednesday.