California and Arizona are currently fighting each other over water from the Colorado River. But this isn’t new — it’s actually been going on for over 100 years. At one point, the states literally went to war about it. The problem comes down to some really bad math from 1922.
The largest project in the city of San Marcos is only a few weeks from completion.
The city dedicated millions of dollars and spent three years improving the area around San Marcos Creek, which runs through the center of town. The creek regularly flooded streets when it rained, prompting road closures and backed–up traffic.
After a series of winter storms boosted California’s reservoirs and snowpack, state and federal officials are pledging full water deliveries, increasing 2023 allocations for farmers and water districts to 100% of requested supplies for the year.
With snowmelt occurring, the California Department of Water Resources said last week it expects to deliver 100% of requested water supplies from the State Water Project. That is up from a 75% allocation announced in March.
Californians could be voting on a major flood protection bond next November.
State lawmakers are pushing a $4.5 billion bond measure which would help fund water infrastructure projects across the state.
Safe, clean and affordable drinking water is a human right in California. But making that legal requirement a reality is a difficult challenge exacerbated further by climate change.
Following an epic winter that has grown the California snowpack to historic levels, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is preparing for an equally epic runoff season. With the Eastern Sierra snowpack at 296% of normal, the municipally owned water agency for the City of Los Angeles is anticipating runoff to be 225% of normal and is implementing safety measures.
Mark Pestrella is the director of L.A. County Public Works, which oversees 27 spreading grounds and 14 dams that both hold most of our local water supply as well as prevent massive flooding in the cities below.
Pestrella said he isn’t losing sleep over a megaflood. His biggest concern? The increasing severity of smaller, but intense storms — like many we experienced this winter.
The Lake Tahoe region has been put on flood watch this coming weekend as unseasonably warm weather melts the Sierra Nevada’s almighty snowpack.
“Creeks and streams will be running high fast,” the National Weather Service warned. “Low-water crossings may be flooded.”
Like our changing climate and its many impacts on our communities, economy and environment; like the collapse of critical infrastructure; like the humanitarian homelessness crisis on our streets and the housing shortage driving it; like so many other slow-motion disasters that have befallen us, the warning signs have been unmistakably clear.
After weeks of uncertainty, forecasters say an incoming California heat wave will trigger rapid snowmelt on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada and cause more flooding in portions of the San Joaquin and Owens valleys this week.
Temperatures in Central California are forecast to climb into the high 80s and mid-90s beginning Wednesday and into the weekend, with the potential for some areas to approach daily records.
