California’s drought appears over, at least above ground. As of April 2017, reservoirs were around 2 million acre feet above normal with record breaking snowpack . This is great news for the 75% of Californians that get their drinking water from large, urban surface water suppliers. Groundwater, however, takes longer to recharge and replenish. What does this mean for the more than 2,000 small community water systems and hundreds of thousands of private well-reliant households that rely on groundwater?

Arizona’s infrastructure received a “C” rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2015. However, the state is faring better on its report card than the country overall. The group recently graded the nation’s infrastructure a D+. This week, ASCE is hosting a pipelines conference in Phoenix, providing an important forum for experts in pipeline and utilities infrastructure to gather and share innovative ideas to meet industry challenges. Given the embarrassing shape of our country’s current infrastructure, the conference is a symbol of hope for the future.

Construction is now underway along the Feather River Parkway where nearly 3 miles of levees need emergency repairs. “We saw some alarming distress. So, this was deemed a critical repair project,” Sutter Butte Flood Control Executive Director Mike Inamine said. The repairs will include filling sinkholes and boils. Water seepage was evident on the levees after increased water was released from the Oroville Dam spillways in February and into Feather River. Officials said the levee damage posed a direct threat to Yuba City and Sutter County.