Can Flooded Rice Fields be a Solution in California Water War?
California is the country’s second-largest rice producer, after Arkansas, and the $5 billion crop is particularly well suited to the Sacramento Valley’s clay soil.
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Sierra Nevada Giant Sequoias Respond to Water Stress With Clever Adaptations
The leaves atop giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada are better at storing water than those closer to the ground, an adaptation that may explain how their treetops are able to survive 300 feet in the air, researchers at American River College and Humboldt State University have found.
“It can take over a week for water to get from the ground to the top of the tree,” says Alana Chin, who led the study and is an instructor at American River College. “When you’re that tall of a tree, you’re under tremendous water stress.”
New Poll Shows Californians’ Opinions On Climate Change, Water
It’s been 10 years since California enacted AB 32, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020.
The state is on track to meet its goal. A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows, despite a partisan divide, 62 percent of likely voters favor the law.
Fifty-nine percent of likely voters also favor a new law that requires greenhouse gases be reduced even more. For Californians who believe gas prices will rise as a result, 63 percent of voters still favor expanding the goals.
New Wetlands Are Being Created in Weird Ways—and That’s Good for Birds
Around the world, vital wetlands are being destroyed. Researchers recently estimated that the planet has lost at least 54 percent and as much as 87 percent of these important habitats globally since 1700. As the wetlands disappeared, so have many of the species that once called them home.
At the same time, something else is going on. Agriculture and other types of development are creating some new wetlands where they may not have existed before.
Study recommends groundwater recharge as way against drought
A new Stanford University study recommends groundwater recharge and storage across the state of California as what it calls as “an affordable solution” against drought in recent years.
In addition to building more resilient water supplies in the Golden State, the study suggests that the process, known as “managed aquifer recharge,” or MAR, can incorporate co-benefits such as flood control, improved water quality and wetland habitat protection.
Deep Water Desalination Proposed in Monterey Bay
Backers of a new Monterey Bay desalination project think they have found a fix for the environmental problems posed by most seawater intakes: Instead of drawing seawater from the beach, they plan to draw from the one of the world’s deepest marine canyons.
The Deep Water Desal project is proposed at Moss Landing, exactly midway along the curving shore of Monterey Bay. As such, it may be ideally positioned to serve the chronic water shortages affecting the region.
Revised CA Twin Tunnels plan draws support, controversy
A scenic spot along the Sacramento River is quickly becoming ground zero in the fight over California’s water future as the new California WaterFix project is generating strong reactions. We are absolutely opposed to the Tunnels,” one Delta resident said. The Twin Tunnels are a big part of the revised California WaterFix.
The new plan would draw fresh water out of the Sacramento River from three intake points between Clarksburg and Hood. Eventually, the tunnels would divert the water through the Delta to protect endangered fish before ultimately supplying 25 million people surrounding Los Angeles with California’s most precious resource.
What is the Heat Dome and How Does it Affect California?
Much of the country has experienced record-setting temperatures this summer, thanks in large part to a weather phenomenon known as the heat dome. And while San Francisco and Los Angeles lucked out with mostly average temperatures in early July, much of California right now is in the midst of what the National Weather Service is calling triple digit heat. That means increased fire danger at a time when two massive wildfires have burned more than 60,000 acres in California in the past seven days. Let’s break down what exactly the heat dome is and how it’s affecting weather in the state.
Twin Tunnels Hearing: Diverse Voices in Latest Fight Over Delta ‘Fix’
The first day of a months-long hearing that could determine the fate of the controversial twin tunnels provided no answers on Tuesday — nor was it expected to.But dozens of comments made by citizens, activist groups and water agencies showed just how divided the state is on the proposed $15 billion Delta “fix.”Tuesday’s testimony before the State Water Resources Control Board also revealed how diverse the Stockton-area opposition to the project has become. The tunnels are no longer a battleground solely for farmers and environmentalists of the old peripheral canal days.
Tree Die-Offs Won’t Increase Wildfire Risk, Expert Says
In the Sierra Nevada, it’s estimated that tens of millions of trees have died as a result of drought, many of which succumbed to infestations from bark beetles. As a result, we’ve been told our risk of wildfire is far higher than normal, but FM89’s Kerry Klein says the science doesn’t necessarily agree. Gaze across a hillside at 5,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, and that landscape, usually a wash of green pines, firs and cedars, is probably smudged with reds and browns.
