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San Diego Exploring 2022 Ballot Measure to Pay for Growing Flood-Prevention, Stormwater Needs

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diegans may face new taxes or fee increases to upgrade the city’s increasingly unreliable flood-prevention infrastructure, which needs an estimated $1.5 billion in repairs and modernization efforts during the next five years.

City officials announced this week they are exploring a possible November 2022 ballot measure that would boost funding for flood prevention with either new parcel taxes, property-related fees, special assessment taxes or other options.

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Opinion: Water Markets in California Can Reduce the Costs of Drought

/in , /by /CalMattersby Ellen Hanak

California’s increasingly volatile warming climate is making droughts more intense, and complicating water management. A just-launched commodity futures market for the state’s water provides a new tool for farmers, municipalities and other interested parties to ensure against water price shocks arising from drought-fueled shortages.

Taking a Wall Street approach to an essential natural resource has prompted both fear and hype. Will California experience a new Gold Rush in water? Will speculation boost the cost of water? Perhaps both the fear and the hype are unwarranted.

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Climate Change Ravaged the West With Heat and Drought Last Year; Many Fear 2021 Will Be Worse

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Judy Fahys

If there were any doubts that the climate is changing in the Colorado River Basin, 2020 went a long way toward dispelling them, thanks to yet another year of extreme weather.

Unprecedented wildfires, deadly heat waves, withering drought—the many indicators of the climate mayhem that scientists have been warning about for years—ravaged the landscape, claiming dozens of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Colorado endured an unprecedented wildfire season. And so did California, in some cases burning where the wounds were still fresh from the epic fires of 2018. Utah experienced its driest year ever, and persistent high temperatures killed more people in Arizona than ever before. Monsoon rains that typically bring relief throughout the region were a no-show for the second summer in a row and now are being called the “non-soon.”

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Tensions Rise Over Company’s Plan to Sell Colorado River Water in Arizona

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James

Mayors and county supervisors in towns along the Colorado River were already upset five months ago when the state water agency endorsed an investment company’s plan to take water from farmland near the river and sell it to a growing Phoenix suburb.

Now, they’re incensed that the agency, which initially suggested holding back a large portion of the water, changed its stance and will let the company sell most of the water to the town of Queen Creek.

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Citing Climate Change, LADWP Ends Free Water Deal for Long Valley Ranchers and Sparks Anger Among Conservationists

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

Since the early 1920s, the Long Valley plains east of Yosemite have inspired comparison to a rustic Western paradise — an idyllic frontier where sparkling creeks meander through lush pastures, waters teem with feisty trout and sage grouse make ostentatious displays of romance.

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In the Heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Two Groundwater Sustainability Agencies Try to Find Their Balance

/in , /by /Western Water (Water Education Foundation)by Gary Pitzer and Douglas E. Beeman

Groundwater keeps the San Joaquin Valley’s orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems. Now, hundreds of agencies in California have the task of making things right in their respective groundwater basins – no easy task considering the enormity of the problem and the need to protect both the farm economy and the drinking water for vulnerable communities. Western Water examined how two San Joaquin Valley groundwater sustainability agencies are striving to find that balance.

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Water Board Approves $11.4 Million Contract for Reservoir Project

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved an $11.4 million construction project to improve drinking water supply reliability in North County Thursday.

The Hauck Mesa Storage Reservoir project will begin in February. It includes demolition of an abandoned steel tank, building a 2.1 million-gallon storage reservoir connected to the Valley Center Pipeline, and construction of an isolation vault and an underground flow-control facility.

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California Storm Winds Down After Deluge of Rain and Snow

/in , /by /AP Newsby John Antczak and Scott Sonner

A drenching storm that brought California much-needed rain in what had been a dry winter wound down Friday after washing out Highway 1 near Big Sur, burying the Sierra Nevada in snow and causing muddy flows from slopes burned bare by wildfires.

The atmospheric river weather system that barreled ashore in Northern California early in the week rolled quickly through Southern California overnight and was moving east before dawn. Remnants unleashed occasional downpours and hail.

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What Are These Atmospheric Rivers that Bring Heavy Rain and Snow to California?

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Paul Duginski

An atmospheric river — a plume of moisture that has been likened to a river in the sky — has brought heavy precipitation to the Central Coast. Now it will sag southward and bring rain and mountain snow to Southern California on Thursday night into Friday morning, the National Weather Service said.

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Will the Storm Move the Drought Needle?

/in , /by /FOX KTVUby Debora Villalon

Bay Area water agencies, starved for snow and rain, are encouraged by this week’s storm system.

But managers say it’s too early to say if it will have a lasting impact.

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