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Inside Santa Cruz’s Enviro-Friendly Water Recharge

/in , /by /Good Times (Santa Cruz)by Jacob Pierce

Every minute, about 400 gallons flow past pressure gauges and shut-off valves into a 2-foot-high concrete box that marks the top of Beltz Well 12. If a pilot program goes well, this whole system could play a pivotal role in the water security of communities from Aptos to UCSC. Normally, water is pumping out of this well, not into it. As part of the reversal process, engineers went into the well and removed column piping, which now lies in a pile under a plastic tarp off to the side. Two 35,000-gallon tanks sit empty.

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Oroville Dam’s Rebuilt Spillway Is Nearing Its First Use Since 2017 Disaster

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

The agency that manages Oroville Dam says the facility’s rebuilt spillway is likely to be pressed into service for the first time as soon as next week. The Department of Water Resources announced Tuesday that Lake Oroville has risen close to the point where the agency will need to release water to maintain empty reservoir space for runoff from incoming storms and spring snowmelt. DWR said it will give the public between 24 and 72 hours advance notice of a release, which can be expected to cause relatively rapid rises on the Feather River downstream of the dam.

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Rebuilt Oroville Dam Spillway Could Be Used Next Week After Storm Hits. Is It Ready?

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

Water may cascade down Oroville Dam’s rebuilt spillway next week for the first time since a massive crater formed in its nearly half-mile long surface two years ago — a major milestone in the saga that triggered the evacuation of 188,000 people and a $1.1 billion repair job to the country’s tallest dam.
A storm forecast to hit this week is expected to fill Lake Oroville to the point that state dam operators might need to open the spillway gates to manage lake levels, state officials said Tuesday.

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Who Keeps Buying California’s Scarce Water? Saudi Arabia

/in , /by /The Guardian (New York)by Lauren Markham

Four hours east of Los Angeles, in a drought-stricken area of a drought-afflicted state, is a small town called Blythe where alfalfa is king. More than half of the town’s 94,000 acres are bushy blue-green fields growing the crop. Massive industrial storehouses line the southern end of town, packed with thousands upon thousands of stacks of alfalfa bales ready to be fed to dairy cows – but not cows in California’s Central Valley or Montana’s rangelands. Instead, the alfalfa will be fed to cows in Saudi Arabia.

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Long Beach Water Expands Lawn To Garden Rebate Program

/in , /by /The Grunion (Long Beach)

Thanks to an infusion of cash from the Metropolitan Water District, Long Beach residents can now get more money and replace more turf with drought-tolerant landscaping. The Long Beach Water Department announced changes to the water conservation program Tuesday. In addition to reopening applications to receive rebates, there were a number of changes to the residential program. Starting Monday, April 1, the front yard conversion incentive goes to $3 per square foot of turf removed (from $2). The maximum square footage allowed for rebate has increased from 1,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet.

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Water and agricultural organizations urge Congress To Use Infrastructure Legislation To Address Western Water Challenges

/in , /by /Lake County News (Lake Port)by Elizabeth Larson

More than 100 organizations representing water and agricultural interests in the Western U.S. urged Congress today to use any infrastructure package under consideration to help address severe hydrological conditions in the West. “As a nation we must continually invest in the Western water infrastructure necessary to meet current and future demands,” the groups stated in a letter sent to key congressional committees and Western senators. “Our existing water infrastructure in the West is aging and in need of rehabilitation and improvement.”

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Rain, Snow And Thunderstorms To Hit Northern California Before Sunny Weekend

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Michael McGough

The latest forecasts show stormy weather will ramp up up across interior Northern California by midweek, hitting hardest Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. It’s the second system of the week, according to National Weather Service, after the first dropped showers in the Sacramento Valley and light snow in the Sierra range Monday and early Tuesday. Heavy snow is expected to have a major impact in the mountains Wednesday, and NWS is strongly discouraging mountain travel through Thursday. NWS and Caltrans have said on Twitter that chain controls appear all but certain and highway closures are possible at higher elevations.

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California Wildfire Rating Risks Spread To Public Utilities

/in , /by /The Bond Buyer (New York)by Keeley Webster

The wildfire liabilities that sent investor-owned Pacific Gas & Electric into Chapter 11 are beginning to have a rating impact on California’s public electric utilities. PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January, facing billions of dollars in claims for property damage and loss of life from wildfires in its service area. Rating agencies have also downgraded California’s two other large investor-owned utilities because of similar risks they face from operations in high-risk wildfire areas and California’s inverse condemnation law.

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OPINION: Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan Is Necessary Now

/in , /by /The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Tom Buschatzke

Last week, the seven Colorado River basin states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — sent a letter to Congress calling for federal legislation to authorize the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP). Congressional House and Senate committees are holding hearings on the plan. It’s a historic moment for a river that supports two countries, seven states, 40 million people, 5.5 million acres of agricultural land, 22 federally recognized tribes, 11 national parks, seven wildlife refuges, four national recreation areas, and seven endangered species.

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Atmospheric Rivers: California Could Experience More Intense Rains In The Future

/in , , /by /Yale Climate Connectionsby Diana Madson

Imagine a river flowing through the sky – and all of its water dropping down to earth. That’s kind of what happens during many winter storms on the west coast. A so-called “atmospheric river” is a long, flowing band of water vapor – typically a few hundred miles wide – that contains vast amounts of moisture. When it moves inland over mountains, the moisture rises, causing it to cool and fall to earth as rain or snow. Duane Waliser of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says atmospheric rivers are often beneficial, because they provide about half of California’s fresh water supply. But strong atmospheric river systems can also be dangerous – especially when they stall, or produce rain on top of snow.

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