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California’s Largest New Reservoir in Decades Secures Federal Approval

/in , , /by /SFGateby Madilynne Medina

The U.S. Department of the Interior approved a major California water project on Friday, clearing a key obstacle for a massive new reservoir.

The proposed 1.5 million acre-foot Sites Reservoir would store water from the Sacramento River and distribute it during droughts to several parts of California, including the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, Southern California and the Bay Area. Stretching about 4 miles across and 13 miles north to south, it’s meant to provide water to approximately 24 million people, and it would mark California’s first major reservoir project since 1979, when New Melones Lake was completed.

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Trump Is Winning His Water Tug-Of-War With Newsom

/in , /by /Politicoby Camille von Kaenel

President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are so in sync on California water that they’re in a race to capture as much of it as possible — even at each other’s expense.

Trump and Newsom’s relative alignment on water issues has been good news all around for farmers and cities that draw from both sides of the state’s main water hub: the federally run Central Valley Project, and the aptly named State Water Project, which is state-run.

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Heated Debate Over California Water Plan as Environmentalists Warn of ‘Ecosystem Collapse’

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The question of how to protect fish and the ecological health of rivers that feed California’s largest estuary is generating heated debate in a series of hearings in Sacramento, as state officials try to gain support for a plan that has been years in the making.

“I am passionate that this is the pathway to recover fish,” said state Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “This is the paradigm we need: collaborative, adaptive management versus conflict and litigation.”

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Cheaper Recycled Water Is Coming. But Your Water Bill Will Still Go Up. Here’s Why.

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Lucas Robinson Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Three communities – San Diego, Oceanside and parts of East County – are entering the era of recycled water, at a crucial moment for local water politics. How that gets sorted out will be reflected in San Diegans’ water bills.

A decade ago, amid worries about the impact of drought on water supplies, those San Diego municipalities turned to recycled water, that is, turning sewage into drinking water. One local city, Carlsbad, also has a desalination plant, which turns seawater into drinking water.

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SDSU’s One Water Lab Brings Real-Time River Water Research to the San Diego River

/in , /by /CBS 8 by Vanessa Paz

A groundbreaking water research facility is taking shape along the San Diego River, giving scientists access to something they’ve never had before: real water, in real time.

The project, called the One Water Lab, is being developed by San Diego State University, steps from the river itself. Unlike traditional labs confined to classrooms, this facility is designed to study water exactly where it flows, bringing research out into the environment it’s meant to protect.

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As Deadline Approaches, Colorado River Stewards Debate How to Share Water

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Scott Franz

It’s crunch time for negotiators from California and six other Western states trying to strike a deal before Feb. 14 on how to share the dwindling Colorado River. But four days of talks in a Salt Lake City conference room earlier this month did not appear to have sparked a breakthrough.

“We got tired of each other,” Utah’s negotiator, Gene Shawcroft, said last week at a public board meeting, days after the meeting ended. “And two of the days, we made some progress, but one day we went backwards almost as much progress as we made in two and a half days.”

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Editorial: A Trickle of Water Sense From California

/in , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journal

California has hundreds of miles of coastline, yet melted snow from other states remains an important source of its water. Perhaps a needed change is on the horizon — one that would even help Nevada.

Interstate negotiations over the Colorado River appear deadlocked. The three Lower Basin states, including Nevada, remain at odds with their four Upper Basin counterparts. There is significant disagreement over what to do when the river doesn’t deliver enough water. Unfortunately, that has been the reality for many years, as the river was overallocated from the beginning. Lake Mead is forecast to drop even further in the coming months.

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Rain, Not Snow: Extraordinary Warmth Leaves Mountains Less Snowy Across the West

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

At UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, located at 6,894 feet above sea level near Donner Pass, researchers collect detailed measurements of the snowpack each day.

There is still some snow on the ground to measure, but less than they usually see in late January.

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Trump Administration Approves Plan Backed by Newsom to Build Largest California Reservoir in 50 Years

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The Trump administration on Friday gave its approval for plans to build Sites Reservoir, a vast 13-mile-long off-stream lake north of Sacramento that would provide water to 500,000 acres of Central Valley farmland and 24 million people, including residents of Santa Clara County, parts of the East Bay and Los Angeles.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a document called a “record of decision” for the proposed project, signing off on its environmental review process.

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The Region’s Three Sewage Recycling Systems, Prompted by Drought, Will Soon Go Online

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

Because leaders across this drought-afflicted region all embraced the same innovative idea a decade ago, three separate sewage recycling systems will soon come online in Oceanside, East County and San Diego.

While drought was the main motivator for spending millions to purify sewage into drinking water, local leaders were also spurred by increasing costs for imported water and long-term concerns about the Colorado River.

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