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Congress Eyes A Bill To Speed Up Dam Construction

Republicans from arid Western states have set their sights on making dam-building easier. Led by California Representative Tom McClintock, lawmakers from Wyoming, North Dakota, Arizona, and Colorado introduced a bill last week that would try to force federal agencies to complete complex environmental studies for dam-building plans within a year. But many water scientists, river law experts, and regulators say House Resolution 1664, which is sponsored by California Republican Congressman Tom McClintock, presents an unrealistic timeframe given that any major modern dam proposal includes dozens of detailed scientific, engineering, and safety studies running to thousands of pages.

San Diego Leaders Call On MWD To ‘Stop The Spending!’

On March 22, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution in support of efforts by the San Diego County Water Authority to recover nearly $250 million in illegal charges imposed on local water users in recent years by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California, and calling on MWD to end ratepayer overcharges, overspending and unplanned borrowing that have contributed to MWD doubling water rates over the past decade.

Yay! San Diego Reservoirs Filling Up

On January 26, San Diego County’s water authority exulted that the drought was over. On March 22, the New York Times wrote, “We have some good news on the California drought.” The huge snowpack in the Sierras portends more water. Countywide, San Diego’s reservoirs are filling up. People are cheering. But there’s little joy in tiny Borrego Springs, in the northeast portion of the county. It doesn’t have reservoirs. It gets its water from an aquifer, or permeable rock that can transmit groundwater.

What Drought? Sierra Nevada Snowpack At 164 Percent Of Normal

The biggest blizzards are over. But as state water officials head into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday for the annual April 1 snowpack reading — the most important of the year for planning summer water supplies — California still has a huge amount of snow covering its highest mountain peaks, an avalanche that has buried the state’s punishing drought. On Tuesday, the statewide Sierra snowpack stood at 164 percent of its historic average, a massive accumulation of new water. It’s the largest snowpack since 2011, when it was 171 percent of normal on April 1.

San Diego Leaders Call On MWD To ‘Stop The Spending!’

On March 22, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution in support of efforts by the San Diego County Water Authority to recover nearly $250 million in illegal charges imposed on local water users in recent years by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California, and calling on MWD to end ratepayer overcharges, overspending and unplanned borrowing that have contributed to MWD doubling water rates over the past decade.

Where Levees Fail In California, Nature Can Step In To Nurture Rivers

After millions of dollars of flood damage and mass evacuations this year, California is grappling with how to update its aging flood infrastructure. Some say a natural approach might be part of the answer. All the water that poured down spillways at the Oroville Dam in northern California did a lot of damage to the area — and for miles down the river. “It looks like a bomb’s gone off,” says John Carlon of River Partners, a nonprofit that does river restoration. “That’s what it looks like.”

Desert Water Agencies Will Appeal To Supreme Court In Tribe’s Landmark Groundwater Case

The Coachella Valley’s largest water agencies will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the question of whether the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has a federally established right to groundwater beneath the tribe’s reservation. The Coachella Valley Water District and the Desert Water Agency announced Wednesday that they plan to submit their petition for a review by the Supreme Court in June or July. The agencies’ board members decided to take the case to the high court three weeks after a federal appeals court ruled the tribe holds a “reserved right” to groundwater.

 

Water Allocations in California Deemed Unfair

After the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced a 65% initial allocation for those growing operations south of the Delta in the Central Valley of California, Western Growers’ President and CEO Tom Nassif declared the allocation “defies logic.” Particularly since the announcement follows another notice that other parts of the Central Valley would receive100% initial allocations. The unusually high levels of rain over the winter led growers to hope for a 100% allocation, Western Growers says. Key storage facilities like the San Luis Reservoir were filled to capacity.

 

OPINION: Where Did That Drought Come From?

That was one hairy drought, not so long ago. Could it be pinned on our changing climate, or was it another example of the climate’s usual twists and turns, its natural variability? I spoke recently with Richard Seager (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University). Seager is lead author of a paper, “Causes of the 2011-14 California Drought,” published in the Journal of Climate. When you need to study something big — a bridge, an airplane, a skyscraper — you build a model before you build it.

California Sees Heaviest Mountain Snowpack In Years

Surveyors will crunch across the deepest mountain snowdrifts California has seen in years on Thursday to take the first snow measurement of the spring, a time when the snow begins to melt and flow downhill. The snowpack stretches along 400 miles of the Sierra Nevada, creating an icy reservoir that provides roughly one-third of irrigation and drinking water to the nation’s most populous state during hot, dry months of the year. The water content of the snowpack measured at 164 percent of normal Wednesday, according to the state’s electronic monitors throughout the mountain range.