Kou Her’s family has run the 12-acre Herr Family Farms in Sanger, just east of Fresno, for the last 20 years, raising a variety of vegetables for Bay Area produce and farmer’s markets. In those 20 years, Kou and his parents haven’t seen anything like the heat wave gripping the Central Valley this week.
Record-breaking heat and historic drought in the U.S. West are doing little to discourage cities from planning to welcome millions of new residents in the decades ahead.
From Phoenix to Boise, officials are preparing for a future both with more people and less water, seeking to balance growth and conservation. Development is constrained by the fact that 46% of the 11-state Western region is federal land, managed by agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that are tasked with maintaining it for future generations.
The state water board has unanimously approved emergency regulations behind a move to halt Russian River diversions for up to 2,400 water right holders, part of a wider effort to conserve dwindling supplies in Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino.
The 5-0 vote of the State Water Resources Control Board late Tuesday came over the objections raised by agricultural interests and allies who argued the new rule was too blunt a tool to use to address the worsening drought.
Does your tap water taste a little off right now? Sacramento city leaders say the drought is probably to blame.
The city says they have been recently getting some calls with people reporting an “earthy” taste to their tap water. Some people have also been reporting an off smell as well.
A hacker accessed the computer system of a Bay Area water treatment plant in January and deleted programs the plant used to treat drinking water, a senior intelligence official confirmed Thursday.
The Helix Water District Board of Directors June 16, honored East County student artists for their winning “Water Is Life” posters in an online awards ceremony.
Southern California students in kindergarten through eighth grade are invited to participate in their regional water agency’s Student Poster Art Contest to increase awareness about water conservation. This year, 231 students from 17 schools within the Helix Water District submitted their posters depicting how to use water wisely.
First Place – Sofia Cardenas Loera, Lighthouse Christian Academy, Lemon Grove, Grade 3
Second Place – Tiffany An, Christ Lutheran School, La Mesa, Grade 3
Third Place – Stella Stackhouse, Avocado Elementary School, La Mesa, Grade 2
Honorable Mention – Lucas Regimbal, Christ Lutheran School, La Mesa, Grade 3
Honorable Mention – Sanora Atoe, Lexington Elementary School, El Cajon, Grade 3
First Place – Kaylee Martin, Highlands Elementary School, Spring Valley, Grade 5
Second Place – Valeria Ramirez, St. John of the Cross, Lemon Grove, Grade 6
Third Place – Hannah Maass, Christ Lutheran School, La Mesa, Grade 8
Honorable Mention – Maddy Amezwa Cruz, Literacy First Junior Academy, El Cajon, Grade 8
Honorable Mention – Sarah Cervantes, Christ Lutheran School, La Mesa, Grade 8
Helix Water District 2020 winner Mina Saeed’s entry appears on the September 2021 calendar page. Photo: Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Winners now move on to compete with other regional winners for the opportunity to appear in the 2022 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California calendar.
Helix Water District students have been successful in recent state competition. In 2021, art from Jose Sabedra, a fourth-grader from Bostonia Language Academy in El Cajon, and Mina Saeed, also a fourth-grader at Lexington Elementary School in El Cajon, appear in the calendar. They won the 2020 Helix Water District competition.
(Editor’s note: The Helix Water District is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the metropolitan San Diego region.)
Helix Water District honored local student artists for their winning Water Is Life posters at a virtual awards ceremony during Helix Water District’s board meeting on June 16, 2021.
An unusually early and long-lasting heat wave brought more triple-digit temperatures Wednesday to a large swath of the U.S. West, raising concerns that such extreme weather could become the new normal amid a decades-long drought.
Phoenix, which is seeing some of the highest temperatures this week, tied a record for the second day in a row when it reached 115 degrees (46 Celsius) Wednesday and was expected to hit 117 (47 Celsius) each of the next two days, the National Weather Service said.
Scientists who study drought and climate change say that people living in the American West can expect to see more of the same in the coming years.
California’s shaky power grid is on a collision course with an epic drought that’s depleting a major source of supply: hydroelectricity.
The Western heatwave that began Wednesday has the manager of the state’s grid, the California Independent System Operator, warning of potential power shortages through the weekend. Although the organization stopped short of predicting another round of rolling blackouts, it appealed to Californians to conserve energy to get the state through a tough week. The National Weather Service said temperatures are expected to reach 110 degrees Thursday.
A heat dome is baking Arizona and Nevada, where temperatures have soared past 115 degrees this week and doctors are warning that people can get third-degree burns from the sizzling asphalt.
At Lake Mead, which supplies water for 25 million people in three southwestern states and Mexico, water levels have plunged to their lowest point since the reservoir was filled in the 1930s. In California, farmers are abandoning their thirstiest crops to save others, and communities are debating whether to ration tap water.
