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

The five-year drought in California may have the green lawns of Santa Barbara in its sights.  In an unprecedented move, the Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday is considering an outright ban on outdoor watering. As a conservation measure, the city already has limitations on what time of day people can water. Tom Fayram, deputy director of public works in charge of water resources for Santa Barbara County, said his department will continue to push voluntary conservation measures. “We need to conserve now, to save that water for later,” Fayram said.

One year later, the shade balls dumped in the Los Angeles Reservoir have proven to be successful in saving water, according to the L.A. Department of Water and Power. In August of last year, L.A. officials released an additional 20,000 balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir, bringing the total number of balls in use to 96 million. The 36-cent plastic balls were designed to block sunlight, preventing chemical reactions that can cause harmful algae blooms.

As the California drought persists, dying trees are slowly becoming the state’s largest natural disaster, Cal Fire said.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that a Southern California water supplier can go ahead with the purchase of five Delta Islands, regardless of the opposition and lawsuit against it. Metropolitan Water District (MWD) will go ahead with the $175 million sale of the Delta Islands as ruled by the Supreme Court. Since MWD initiated the sale, several injunctions have been placed against it stopping the purchase from going through. Several lawsuits have also been filed by San Joaquin and Contra Costa counties, Delta Island farmers and a series of environmental groups.

 

Congressman Jeff Denham introduced the New WATER Act Thursday in hopes of authorizing a pilot project that would provide long-term, low-cost financing for water resources infrastructure in reclamation states.“The Central Valley desperately needs to build more infrastructure for water storage and delivery,” said Denham, who introduced the bill Thursday.