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Project Aids Food Supply for Delta Smelt

/in /by /AgNet West (Gainesville, Fla.)

Efforts to enhance the food supply for the protected delta smelt are showing initial success, according to wildlife and water resources experts. They gathered at the Yolo Bypass to the Sacramento River last week to discuss their work to increase the number of plankton available to the fish. Cooperative efforts by state and federal agencies, Sacramento Valley farmers and water providers have resulted in the creation of a phytoplankton bloom, the experts said. Phytoplankton are microscopic creatures and the major food source for zooplankton, another minuscule creature that represents the main food source for delta smelt.

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Water Use in California is Increasing. Should We Care?

/in /by /89.3 KPCC (Pasadena)by Emily Guerin

New data out Wednesday show Californians used 15 percent more water this July than the same time last year, continuing a trend that began in June when state officials backed away from mandatory water conservation targets. While state officials seem unfazed by the increase, others worry it means Californians aren’t taking the drought as seriously as before. In June, the State Water Resources Control Board ended nearly a year of unprecedented mandatory water conservation across the state. In spring 2015, Governor Jerry Brown asked for a statewide cut of 25 percent.

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Feds’ water use forecast was too good to be true

/in /by /Arizona Daily Starby Tony Davis

It sounded too good to be true — an official forecast that 2016 water use in Arizona, California and Nevada will be the lowest since 1992.

That forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was too good to be true — by the bureau’s own admission. It was widely reported recently as a sign of major progress toward conservation. But what the bureau calls its more accurate forecast, while still showing progress, is significantly higher, predicting water use in the states will be its lowest in 11 years — not 24.

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Background on Agreement Between Bullhead City, BOR

/in /by /Mohave Valley Daily News (Bullhead City, Ariz.)by Neil Young

The following is taken from a “council communication” from Public Works Director Pawan Agrawal providing background information regarding the agreement between the city of Bullhead City and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation permitting the city to pump effluent — wastewater — into the Colorado River: In October 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a letter inviting certain entities along the Colorado River to participate in the “Pilot Program for Colorado River System Water Conservation” they developed at that time, and Bullhead City received this invitation.

 

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Here’s What’s Happening to All That Water Bond Money

/in /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Matt Weiser

Almost two years ago California voters, in the midst of a historic drought, passed Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion bond measure intended to ease water shortages by funding new projects.

At this point, many Californians are wondering where all that money went.

Most of it hasn’t gone anywhere, yet. According to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), just 2 percent of the bond money has been spent so far – about $177 million. The rest awaits a lengthy process of vetting funding requests.

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The Golden State’s water crisis: California and EPA poised to expand pollution of potential drinking water reserves

/in /by /Salon (Sacramento)by Abrahm Lustgarten

As the western United States struggles with chronic water shortages and a changing climate, scientists are warning that if vast underground stores of fresh water that California and other states rely on are not carefully conserved, they too may soon run dry.

Heeding this warning, California passed new laws in late 2014 that for the first time require the state to account for its groundwater resources and measure how much water is being used.

 

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Lake Powell could dry up in as little as six years, study says

/in /by /Arizona Daily Starby Tony Davis

Lake Powell has been called “Jewel of the Colorado” by the federal agency that built it, the Bureau of Reclamation.

It’s been a vital force for the intermountain West because of its ability to store vast amounts of water and generate electricity for farmers, cities and towns in 13 states.

But a new study warns that the lake could virtually dry up in as few as six years if the region gets a repeat of the dry spell it experienced from 2000 to 2005.

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Drought Hurting California Salmon

/in /by /The Associated Press (As Published by: U.S. News) by ELLEN KNICKMEYER

California’s iconic native salmon are struggling amid five years of drought.

On a recent fishing trip by the Salty Lady charter boat just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, fishermen were hooking native Chinook salmon that had been born at state and federal hatcheries and then carried in trucks for release downstream.

Golden Gate Salmon Association president Victor Gonella says trucking is the only reason the state’s vital fall-run salmon survived the previous two years of drought.

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Clarifications on estimates of irrigated cropland idled due to 2016 California drought

/in /by /Imperial Valley Newsby Josue’ Medellin-Azuara, Duncan MacEwan, Richard E. Howitt, Daniel A. Sumner and Jay R. Lund

On August 15, a team from UC Davis, ERA Economics and the UC Agricultural Issues Center released an economic impact report related to the California drought of 2016.

Several commentaries have indicated that land fallowing in the summer of 2016 exceeds the approximately 80 thousand acres in the 2016 drought report. Therefore, this short “supplement” provides additional details and clarification on how we estimated the impact of the 2016 drought on land idling as opposed to other causes of water shortages in 2016. (The same clarification applies to jobs and other economic aggregates.)

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OPINION: Water Relief Is on The Way – If Congress Works Together

/in /by /The Fresno Beeby Dianne Feinstein

A recent study by UC Davis confirmed that the Central Valley continues to suffer the brunt of the drought, to the tune of $630 million this year and $5.5 billion over the past three years. Farmers have fallowed more than 1 million acres of land, and 42,000 people have lost their jobs. But we need to look beyond the numbers. Small farms have gone bankrupt. Generations of farmers have lost their livelihoods, including a cantaloupe farmer I recently met with who lost the farm his grandfather started. He and his father had worked that land side-by-side for decades.

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