The Alameda County Water District announced Wednesday that surcharges prompted by years of drought will be dropped in April, following one of the wettest winters on record.
At a special meeting held Tuesday, the agency’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to end the surcharges, which were put in place after a water shortage emergency was declared.
A modest proposal for western water: Turn off the spigot to the Imperial Valley and let the farms go fallow. In return, provide a water future for Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.
Sure, there would be a price to pay. California’s Imperial Valley, which sits in the southeastern corner of the state, bordered by Arizona and Mexico, produces alfalfa, lettuce, corn and sugar beets, among other crops.
Senator Mark Kelly recently shared two photos of Lake Mead, Arizona, and the stark contrast between the two fueled concerns about the reservoir’s ability to recover from severe drought.
Torrential rain on the West Coast has filled some California reservoirs to the point of overflow, and nearby states such as Utah also saw their reservoirs benefit from the excess rain. However, Lake Mead water levels remain relatively unchanged and still at nearly their lowest in the reservoir’s history.
A reliable and sustainable water supply is critical to every aspect of California’s economy and the quality of life for all Californians. That is why Senator Anna M. Caballero (D-Merced) is authoring Senate Bill 366, The California Water for All initiative, as an important step in creating adequate statewide water supplies for future generations.
California’s bout of extreme wet weather could become the new normal as climate change worsens, a researcher has warned.
A bomb cyclone battered the state on Tuesday, bringing down trees and power lines. At least one person was killed after a tree fell onto a vehicle, the Los Angeles Times reported. Early on Wednesday, more than 130,000 customers were still without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
A strong late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California has been blamed for two deaths and forecasters said additional flooding was possible Wednesday in parts of the state.
Tuesday’s storm blasted the San Francisco Bay Area with powerful gusts and downpours, pounded Sacramento — the state capital — with intense hail and set rainfall records in Southern California.
This year has been off to a rainy start for much of California, and San Diego is no exception.
With all the wet weather the region has experienced as of late, San Diegans may be surprised to learn that when it comes to the number of (measurable) rain days, these last few months haven’t exactly shattered records.
A major key to shaping weather patterns worldwide is found in the tropical Pacific Ocean, far from any mainland. Known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, this climate phenomenon is the pattern that can create significant differences in average ocean temperatures and often plays a pivotal role in how global weather patterns unfold.
With the ever-changing climate and increasingly dry summers, California faces water challenges, despite this year’s bountiful snowpack. At the February meeting of the California Water Commission, Heather Cooley, Director of Research at the Pacific Institute, explained how increasing water efficiency, water reuse, and stormwater capture is essential to building and enhancing California’s water resilience.
Atmospheric river-fueled storms have hammered the network of hundreds of levees in coastal counties near the San Francisco Bay — from the agricultural fields of Monterey County to urban places like San Leandro, Walnut Creek and Richmond to more rural parts of the North Bay. At least two major levees, in Salinas and Pajaro, have failed since New Year’s Eve.
The levee breach along the Pajaro River, which divides Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, left the entire town of Pajaro in a deluge of water.
