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An Elusive Colorado River Drought Plan Fails To Materialize — For Now

When you’ve held on to something valuable for a long time, it can be hard to choose to give it up. When that something is water, it’s even harder — especially in the desert southwest. But that’s the reality facing water managers in the lower stretches of the Colorado River, a lifeline for farms and cities in the country’s driest regions.

Why Americans are Using a Lot Less Water

The average American is using a lot less water on a daily basis. Six gallons less, to be exact. The US Geological Survey’s National Water Use Science Project has estimated water use in the United States every five years since 1950. In its most recent estimate published this fall, the USGS found that American daily water use per capita went from 88 gallons in 2010 to 82 gallons per capita in 2015.

Where’s the Rain? California Could Suffer an Unusually Dry Winter from San Francisco to Los Angeles

California’s dismally dry autumn paints a bleak outlook for the state’s rainy season, unless the weather this winter makes a big about-face. The situation is a major turnaround from last year, when Northern California was battered by a series of “atmospheric river” storms that helped end the state’s five-year drought. When it was over, California’s northern Sierra Nevada experienced the wettest winter on record, with some ski resorts staying open through the summer.

Water Cutoff Accelerates Shrinking of Salton Sea, Escalating Race Against Retreating Shorelines

The Salton Sea is about to start shrinking more rapidly. A 2003 water transfer deal called for the Imperial Irrigation District to deliver “mitigation water” to the lake for 15 years. With those water deliveries ending in the final days of 2017, the lake’s decline will begin to accelerate. More than 19,000 acres of dry lakebed have already been left exposed as the shorelines have retreated over the past two decades. And as the lake continues to shrink, more lung-damaging dust is expected to spew from the growing stretches of lakebed into communities that already suffer from high asthma rates.

Overcoming the Challenges of Small-Scale Water Recycling

In downtown San Francisco, a mixed-use 800ft tower nearing completion at 181 Fremont St. features a water treatment system that will provide 5,000 gallons a day of recycled water captured from the building to be used for toilet flushing and irrigation. That will help save an estimated 1.3 million gallons of potable water a year.

Preparing for a Drier Future Along the Colorado River

After a 17-year run of mostly dry years, the Colorado River’s flow has decreased significantly below the 20th century average.  Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the country, now stands just 39 percent full. The level of the reservoir behind Hoover Dam has been hovering a bit above historic lows during the past year, helped by a bigger snowpack last winter and strides in water conservation.

Developer Addressing Methane Problem at Otay Ranch Housing Project

The Otay Water District has reached a resolution with HomeFed Corp. to install water meters at the developer’s 450-acre Escaya master-planned community in Otay Ranch after methane and other volatile chemicals were found in soil samples. “We’re proceeding with all our work in the field,” said Kent Aden, vice president of Carlsbad-based HomeFed. He added that the water district’s agreement to move forward with the meters “was kind of a big milestone.”

114 MPH Wind Gust In Snowy Sierra; Storm Heads East

Packing winds in excess of 100 mph (160 kph), a fast-moving winter storm that dumped about a half-foot of snow on the Sierra Nevada made its way Wednesday across the northeast part of the state where the forecast called for icy roads and several inches of blowing and drifting snow. A winter weather advisory was set to expire at 4 p.m. in Lander, Eureka and Elko counties but remained in effect through 10 p.m. Wednesday in White Pine County, where 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of snow was expected at Great Basin National Park along the Utah line.

9 of Our Most Shared Facebook Posts in 2017

From Disneyland ticket prices to a powerful message in the sand to Southern Californians finding fun ways to enjoy the rain, San Diegans shared our Facebook posts thousands of times. Here are our top nine most shared Facebook posts of 2017. After months of severe drought, the San Diego County Water Authority declared the drought over in our county. Many San Diegans, doing their best to conserve water, were excited to learn about the news.

Politicians To Trump: Don’t Relicense Oroville Dam Until We Know Why Spillway Failed

Elected officials and other groups representing those living below the troubled Oroville Dam have asked the Trump administration to hold off on renewing its 50-year license, saying the federal government should at least know why the spillway broke in half last winter before signing off. On Wednesday, the dam’s owner, the California Department of Water Resources, sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission saying it was past time to renew the dam’s license, an effort that has been on hold for the past 11 years.