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What Is The ‘Raw Water’ Trend? It Could Kill You, Health Experts Say

/in /by /USA Todayby Mary Bowerman

Unfiltered and untreated water from a natural spring might sound like an elixir, but health experts warn that drinking so-called “raw water” could end with a trip to the doctor, or worse. “Raw water” or unsterilized water bottled directly from a natural spring, is becoming a sought-after item in California and parts of the U.S., according to the New York Times. The water, which can sell for around $40 for a 2.5-gallon glass jug, is often free of the any water filtration processes that some “raw water” advocates argue strips natural water of probiotics.

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Snow Measures Just 3 Percent Of Average In First California Mountain Survey

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

When the chief of California’s snow measurements conducts his manual surveys, he usually does it in style, skimming the snow in cross-country skis as reporters plod behind him in snowshoes. No need this time. The vast meadow around Phillips, a remote spot near Echo Summit, was mostly grass and dirt Wednesday, with pitifully small patches of snow. Frank Gehrke, the Department of Water Resources employee who runs the survey, wore simple winter boots as he walked the 200-yard course off Highway 50 to complete the first official snow survey of the season.

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Projects Battling For Proposition 1 Water Bond Funding

/in /by /Chico Enterprise-Recordby Steve Schoonover

The California Water Commission got a look in December at all 11 projects vying for water storage bond money, including Sites Reservoir. Proponents of Sites, an off-stream reservoir proposed for a valley west of Maxwell, are seeking $1.7 billion from Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion bond measure approved by voters in November 2014. Proposition 1 included $2.7 billion for water storage projects, but the 11 proposals would cost $5.7 billion.

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There’s Almost No Snow In The Sierra, But Water Officials Aren’t Panicking

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

The giddiness California water resources officials felt last winter as storms dropped record amounts of rain and snow has faded under a relentless barrage of blue sky and sun, but this week’s promise of stormy weather is giving them hope. Snow surveyors measured only 3 inches of water in the Sierra snowpack Wednesday, a dismal 24 percent of average for this time of year.

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Southern California’s Water Year Has Been Nearly Bone Dry So Far, Making Some History

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sarah Parvini

Southern California is seeing one of its driest starts to the water year in decades, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. Since the start of the water year on Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, downtown Los Angeles has received just 0.12 of an inch of rain. That is tied with 1962-63 for the fourth-driest start to a water year since record keeping began in 1877, the weather service said. “The start of the storm season has been exceptionally dry,” said Ryan Kittell, forecaster with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It’s one of the driest in history.”

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Dry Spell Raises Fears of Drought’s Return in California

/in /by /The Associated Press (As published by ABC News)

It’s been almost a year since Los Angeles residents felt any real rain, and precious little snow is in the Sierras, but water managers say it’s too early for fears that California is sliding back into drought as abruptly as the state fell out of it. Water officials carry out the first of their regular ritual winter snow measurements before news cameras on Wednesday. Plunging rods into snowpacks to measure the snow depth, water managers use the event to acquaint Californians with the state of the water supply.

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It’s Too Soon To Worry About Drought, Despite Dry Winter

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Emily Guerin

California water officials on Wednesday confirmed with manual measurements what electronic sensors have been saying for weeks: the state’s largest drinking water reservoir – the Sierra Nevada snowpack – is well below its average water content for this time of year. But water managers say it’s too early for worries that California is sliding back into drought.

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Critical California Snowpack At 21% Of Normal As 2018 Begins

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The new year begins with a minimal snowpack in the Sierra Nevada as measuring stations across the state report an average Wednesday of 2.3 inches — just 21 percent of normal. “The survey is a disappointing start of the year, but it’s far too early to draw conclusions about what kind of a wet season we’ll have this year,” said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program. “There’s plenty of time left in the traditional wet season to reverse the dry trend we’ve been experiencing.”

 

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San Diego Water Managers Say Thin Mountain Snowpack No Reason For Concern

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
Quoted: Tim Bombardier

Water managers in San Diego County said residents shouldn’t worry too much about Southern California’s bone dry weather and the Sierra Nevada mountains’ conspicuous lack of snow — the frozen reservoir that routinely holds more than half of the state’s freshwater. “What we’re seeing right now is that San Diego has sufficient supplies for 2018, regardless of conditions,” said Tim Bombardier, principle water resources specialist at the San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s water wholesaler.

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California’s New Water Boss: States Must Set Own Course on Resources

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)

Until California’s latest drought really took hold in around 2012, few residents of the Golden State had ever heard of the State Water Resources Control Board. But it very quickly became a major force in their lives. As the five-year drought worsened, the board would go on to order water use limits on every water agency in the state, which led to rationing requirements in households across California. It also imposed severe water-right curtailments, requiring rural residents who draw water from streams to immediately stop doing so.

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