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OPINION: California’s Poor Hit Hardest By Unsafe Drinking Water

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Jennifer Clary, Susana De Anda and Phoebe Seaton

California affirmed the human right to safe and affordable drinking water in 2012, when it became the first state in the country to legislatively declare that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible water.” But five years later, still, 300 communities and a million Californians — that’s three times the entire population of Iceland, and more than the population of Flint, Michigan — lack this basic human right, as they are exposed to unsafe drinking water each year.

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Climate Scientists Say California Had Less Than One Percent Chance Of Beating Drought

/in /by /Curbed San Franciscoby Adam Brinklow

California Governor Jerry Brown officially declared the drought over last Friday, a dramatic conclusion to years of dry weather capped off by two winters of violent storms. Though drought damage will take years to undo, and another drought may even be around the corner, it was a remarkable turnaround. In fact, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was the proverbial one in a hundred shot. “The odds of the state completely recovering from its extreme dryness within two years are estimated at less than one percent,” paleoclimatologist Eugene R. Wahl, told NOAA.

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A Missed Opportunity To Press For More Water Storage

/in /by /Capital Press (Salem, Ore)

Last week Gov. Jerry Brown declared California’s five-year drought over while proposing new long-term water conservation measures that must be passed by the Legislature. All Californians can be relieved that the drought has finally passed. Unfortunately, the state’s arid climate and its history all but ensure that it will return, so continued conservation measures are not unwarranted. But Brown let pass a perfect opportunity to remind legislators and the public at large about the urgent need to build more water storage in the state.

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Wet Winter Means Fresnans Can Water Three Times A Week This Summer

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby Tim Sheehan

Fresno City Council members voiced no objections Thursday to allowing residents to water their landscaping up to three days a week during the hot summer, and two days a week during the milder spring and fall months. A wet winter with ample rainfall is creating the relief for residents who want to keep their lawns green. The city’s stringent one-day-a-week winter watering schedule will come to an end on April 30.

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California Officials Want $100B For Dams, Roads And Water From Trump. Will They Get It?

/in /by /ABC 10 (Sacramento)by Jesse Marx

Increases in California’s gas tax and vehicle fees approved last week are expected to raise $52.4 billion over 10 years for the state’s backlog of road and bridge repairs. It is, by any measurement, a significant amount of money — Gov. Jerry Brown dubbed the proposal “a hell of a good deal” — but only about half of what the state would ultimately like to put behind large-scale improvements in the Inland Empire and beyond if the federal government is willing.

 

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Why Farmers Getting More Water Won’t Lower Produce Prices

/in /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Ben Bergman

Thanks to a historically wet winter, Central Valley farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta got some long-awaited good news this week from federal water managers. For the first time in more than a decade, they will receive their full allotment of groundwater from the Central Valley Project. It’s a remarkable turnaround from last year, when farmers got only a 5 percent allotment, or even earlier this year, when they got 65 percent.

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Sutter County Signs On To Letter On Oroville Dam Concerns

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Joshua Gutierrez

The Sutter County Board of Supervisors approved a letter to be sent to top California officials about concerns surrounding Oroville Dam and its spillways. The “coalition letter” is the result of a pair of meetings guided by Assemblyman James Gallagher and state Sen. Jim Nielsen in the weeks following February’s evacuations. “We convened all these different groups together and compiled all the different issues people were concerned about,” said Gallagher. “The idea was to have a united voice and have the region come together and hone in on what the issues are.”

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Officials Plan To Release Water On Damaged Oroville Dam Spillway Ahead Of More Wet Weather

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Melissa Etehad

As Northern California braces for more wet weather, state officials plan to resume releasing water down a damaged spillway at Oroville Dam. The California Department of Water Resources said Thursday that dam operators will reopen the damaged spillway for up to 14 days beginning Friday as state officials finish repair plans. But as Northern California continues to be hit by more storms and in anticipation of runoff from the snowmelt, DWR Director Bill Croyle said that repairs probably won’t start until May or early June.

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Why Celebrate The Latest Rainstorm? Because Northern California Has Set A New Record

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

While you sidestep the puddles and wrestle with your umbrella, be comforted by this: Northern California is going through the wettest rainy season on record. The region broke the 34-year-old record for precipitation in one year, the Department of Water Resources reported early Thursday. The eight-station index for the northern Sierra Nevada, a series of rain gauges positioned from Pacific House to the city of Mount Shasta, showed that 89.7 inches of inches have fallen since the “water year” began last fall.

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After 63 Feet Of Snow, Northern California Mountains Break Record For Wettest Water Year

/in /by /The Washington Postby Jason Samenow

A mind-boggling 751 inches of snow have pummeled the Sugar Bowl ski area near Lake Tahoe this winter. It’s emblematic of a record season for precipitation in California’s northern Sierra Nevada mountain range, and the abrupt end to a historic drought. As of Thursday morning, the northern Sierra had achieved its wettest water year in recorded history, the National Weather Service office in Sacramento announced.

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