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What it Takes to Recover from Drought

/in /by /Phys.Org
According to a study published August 10 in Nature, the length of drought recovery depends on several factors, including the region of the world and the post-drought weather conditions. The authors, including William Anderegg of the University of Utah, warn that more frequent droughts in the future may not allow time for ecosystems to fully recover before the next drought hits.Drought-stricken areas anxiously await the arrival of rain. Full recovery of the ecosystem, however, can extend long past the first rain drops on thirsty ground.
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Panel Weighed Oroville Spillway Failure in 2014 — and Called It Unlikely

/in /by /KQED News (San Francisco)by Dan Brekke

Consider a couple of scenarios for big trouble at Oroville Dam: First: The facility’s main concrete spillway suffers serious damage, resulting in erosion of the rock beneath it — and potentially threatening the safety of the dam itself. Second: Water fills Lake Oroville, the gigantic reservoir behind the dam, and begins surging down a steep unpaved hillside that’s meant to serve as an emergency spillway. The slope suffers serious erosion, again potentially threatening the dam’s safety.

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Trump Administration Sends Payout for Oroville Dam Crisis. Could More Be On the Way?

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

Federal disaster officials have agreed to chip in $22.8 million to help California pay the estimated $500 million cost of the Oroville Dam crisis. Victor Inge, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Wednesday that the reimbursement is to cover some costs associated with the emergency as well as for removing the massive pile of debris that washed down from the spillway and plugged the Feather River channel below the dam. Inge said the state’s requests for reimbursement still are being reviewed, and additional payouts could take several more months.

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Plan for San Joaquin Valley Reservoir to Recharge Groundwater Draws Concern

/in /by /News Deeply (New York)

California’s Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. Located at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, it collected snowmelt from dozens of Sierra Nevada streams. Today, the giant lake is long gone: In the decades after the Gold Rush, it was drained and transformed into farmland. Now, in a modern era of water scarcity, some are eager to see even a small bit of the old Tulare Lake restored. It could be an effective way to recharge groundwater that’s been overtapped by those same farms.

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OPINION: Oroville Dam Repairs Are Just The Start

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicle

Workers have been laboring hard to get the spillway at Oroville Dam fixed in time for the winter rainy season. There has been intensive construction to repair a hole in the spillway, as well as to shore up the dam’s emergency spillway with a new underground retaining wall. The state Department of Water Resources, which owns the dam, is confident that the construction repairs for the spillway are on target. It will be good news indeed if the dam repairs are completed on time.

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Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts

/in /by /Fox and Hounds Daily by Kerry Jackson

Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem like a man relieved. Maybe because what followed was a weary caveat. “The next drought could be around the corner,” he said. “Conservation must remain a way of life.”

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10 States Back California Agencies in Fight with Tribe Over Groundwater

/in /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)

Ten states from Nevada to Texas have weighed in to support two water agencies in their fight with an Indian tribe over control of groundwater in the California desert. The states filed a brief Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will soon decide whether to take up an appeal by the Desert Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District. The water agencies are challenging a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has a federally established right to groundwater dating to the creation of its reservation in the 1870s.

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San Diego Gets OK to Continue Running Wastewater Plant

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by US News & World Report)

Federal and state regulators will allow San Diego to avoid upgrading its outdated wastewater treatment plant as long as the city continues to pursue a $3 billion water recycling program. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board on Monday approved the city’s permit application to operate the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant for another five years despite it being the only facility of its kind not to meet federal standards.

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OPINION: California WaterFix Project is Right Investment for Whole State

/in /by /LA Daily Newsby Gary L. Toebben and Ron Miller

Water has always been a building block of the California economy. From the Gold Rush to the tech boom, and encompassing agriculture, manufacturing, construction and the service sector, reliable water creates opportunities for growth. Investments in infrastructure support these industries and create well-paying jobs. Over the next few months, water agencies across our state will consider one of the biggest water projects in a generation — a proposal to modernize our statewide water system. That project is called California WaterFix. Millions of California homes, farms and businesses depend on a system that brings water hundreds of miles from the Sierra Nevada.

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Salton Sea: The Good, The Bad and The Algae

/in /by /Science Daily

Sandia National Laboratories is testing whether one of California’s largest and most polluted lakes can transform into one of its most productive and profitable. Southern California’s 350-square-mile Salton Sea has well-documented problems related to elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff. Algae thrives on these elements — a fact that causes environmental problems but could also be a solution to those problems.

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