You are now in California and the U.S. category.

A series of storms that ripped through the region last weekend did more than coat the Sierra Nevada with a thin layer of snow. They also sent an estimated 11 billion gallons of water into Lake Tahoe, according to a Facebook post Tuesday from the National Weather Service in Reno. That’s enough water to raise the lake level by more than three inches, according to the weather service. “For reference, that’s roughly equivalent to the average total consumptive water use in a year from the Truckee River by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority,” the weather service reported.

 Los Angeles-based nonprofit TreePeople made headlines last year with a plan to retrofit half a dozen pilot homes with tanks and rain gardens. Today, all the rainwater capture systems have been installed and they highlight how homeowners can be part of the solution to some of California’s water problems. As the organization prepares insights on how the pilot program can be expanded, Water Deeply spoke to TreePeople’s senior policy director, Deborah Weinstein Bloome.

With a few inches of much-needed rain having fallen over the weekend around the Bay Area, it’s yet to be seen whether the region will see a return this winter — or the next, or the next — to sustaining precipitation levels. And indeed, climate change and human water use spread the risk of catastrophic drought over much of the world. Who can save us? Possibly Google.

 

What image does the term “water infrastructure” conjure up for you? Likely something engineered, such as a pipe carrying water, a reservoir storing drinking water or a treatment plant purifying wastewater. But the definition should actually be broadened to include natural water infrastructure that was moving and treating water long before pipelines and anaerobic digesters even existed. California has started down this “new” (old) way of thinking – and it’s welcome news.

 

The last in a series of “October surprise” storms drenched the Bay Area on Sunday, filling reservoirs, downing power lines, and causing flash flood warnings in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Though the water was welcome to much of the parched region, the deluge brought more trials and misery to the hardy folk who survived the devastating Loma fire earlier this month. Boulders crashed, creeks raged, trees toppled and rain seeped into damaged homes.The weather is expected to clear up Monday and grow warmer throughout the week.