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Metropolitan Water District Authorizes Assessments, Monitoring System Upgrades for Lake Mathews and Lake Skinner

/in /by /Valley News (Fallbrook)

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will be undertaking comprehensive assessments of the spillways and dam structures at Lake Mathews and Lake Skinner along with preliminary design of upgrades to the dam monitoring systems at both lakes. The MWD board vote, Dec. 12, also approved an agreement with AECOM, an international design firm, for technical support of those activities. The $2.86 million appropriation for the project covers $2,000,000 for the study and $860,000 to upgrade the monitoring systems and includes $1.53 million for AECOM’s consultant work.

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Brown Administration Working to Scale Down $17 Billion Delta Tunnels Project

/in /by /The Mercury News‎ (San Jose)

Faced with a shortage of money and political support after seven years of work, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is working on a plan to scale back one of his key legacy projects — a $17 billion proposal to build two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to make it easier to move water from Northern California to the south.

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Amid Rains and Mudslides, Drought Concern Remains

/in /by /Capitol Weekly (Sacramento)

Despite the fierce rains and deadly mudslides that have struck California, water officials are concerned about the possibility of a renewed drought. But they caution that is too early to tell. Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, measured snowpack levels with a team last week in the bare Phillips Station area of the Sierra Nevadas, about 90 miles east of Sacramento. He didn’t find much

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‘Atmospheric Rivers’ Aid the West — and Imperil It

/in /by /High Country News (Paonia, Colo.)

When a rainstorm slammed California’s Russian River watershed in December 2012, water rushed into Lake Mendocino, a reservoir north of San Francisco. The cause? An atmospheric river, a ribbon of moisture-laden air that can ferry water thousands of miles across the sky. When the tempest hit, the state was on the brink of an exceptional drought. But instead of storing the surge the storm brought for the dry days to come, the reservoir’s owner, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, let it run downstream.

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What Does a Changing Climate Mean for California’s Infrastructure?

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Los Angeles)

The recent fires and rains in Southern California have led to mudslides, debris flows and rock falls along the Santa Barbara County coast. At least 17 people have died, dozens of homes have been destroyed and, in the coastal village of Montecito, the water system was severely damaged. With extreme weather becoming the norm in California, Take Two reached out to Stanford University earth science professor, Noah Diffenbaugh, to learn more about the state’s infrastructure and its level of preparedness for natural disasters.

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OPINION: What the Oroville Dam Debacle Should Teach Engineers and Experts, and the Rest of Us

/in /by /The Sacramento Bee

The six engineers and geologists who studied the debacle at Oroville Dam are at the pinnacle of their professions. They were responsible for reviewing the work of others who also were at the top of their fields. Having spent decades analyzing obscure aspects of hydrology and geology, Independent Forensic Team members produced an impressive 584-page report focused on esoteric aspects of the science of dams, written for others versed in such science.

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Reddish-Brown Water Not So Sweet

/in /by /San Diego Reader

“The people in Western Chula Vista and National City are getting ice age, prehistoric water that is incredibly good,” said Michael Garrod, the engineering manager at the Sweetwater Authority during a tour of the Richard A. Reynolds Groundwater Desalination Facility. “It’s 16,000-year-old water that hasn’t been touched by man’s hands. No pesticides. Nothing in it.”

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OPINION: Weather, Taxes and More on Water Watch List for 2018

/in /by /The Coast News Group (Encinitas)

Over the holidays, I had a chance to get out my crystal ball and look at water issues for the year ahead. Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly what will happen, but here are my predictions about the water-related topics to watch 2018: The return of the water tax proposal. Last summer, an 11th-hour effort emerged in the Legislature to impose – for the first time – a new statewide tax on residential and business water bills. The “water tax” was part of a bill that aims to improve access to safe drinking water for disadvantaged communities.

 

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Snowfall a Welcome Sign for Dry Mountain Towns, Snow Enthusiasts

/in /by /Los Angeles Daily News

With word of new snow on the mountains, Laura Kless woke up at dawn Wednesday, Jan. 10, dusted off her snowboarding gear and hit the winding road up to Big Bear from Huntington Beach — she wanted to be one of the first to get a taste of the slopes. Kless, a skier in high school who used to ditch class after fresh storms and picked up snowboarding over the past 20 years, knows the best day to hit the mountain is right after a snowfall.

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Here are the Staggering Rainfall Totals from Tuesday’s Storm

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune

Here’s a sample of the staggering amount of rain that fell across San Diego County from late Monday to early Wednesday. Most of the rain came on Tuesday. Forecasters say San Diego isn’t likely to get more rain for the next 7-10 days.

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