Conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin, particularly in Colorado, are OK for the time being, officials said Wednesday during a “state of the river” address in Rifle.
However, the largest of several caveats to that statement falls in the context of the entire Colorado River Basin, specifically the lower basin, where water use continues to outpace supply.
Overhead irrigation systems have revolutionized agriculture across the United States and in other parts of the world, using less water than furrow irrigation and requiring significantly less labor and maintenance than drip systems.
But in California, the No. 1 agriculture state in the nation, it hasn’t gotten off the ground. That could be changing. University of California Cooperative Extension and Fresno State agricultural production scientists researched overhead irrigation at the UC West Side Research and Extension Center for five years, growing wheat, corn, cotton, tomato, onion and broccoli, comparing them with crops produced under furrow and drip irrigation.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Senate energy bill that includes drought relief legislation introduced by California Republican congressman David Valadao.
The House amendment to the Senate Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 passed by a 241 to 178 vote May 25. It includes Valadao’s legislation, the Western Water and American Food Security Act. It aims to expand water infrastructure and storage and find less water-intensive ways to protect the endangered delta smelt.
The United Nations will be discussing recommendations from a new report about climate change-related loss and damage, including a case study of how the San Joaquin Valley is coping with drought, during the second UN Environment Assembly (UNEA2), May 23-27 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The policy recommendations developed by Dr. Gil Harootunian, Fresno State director of university initiatives, focus on how the Valley can best cope with drought. They are featured in “Preventing the Avoidable, Dealing with the Unavoidable,” published May 19 during the Science Policy Forum at the UNEA2.
State water regulators are proposing to dismiss a record $1.5-million fine they intended to levy against a Northern California irrigation district accused of ignoring drought-related cuts in water diversions.
The State Water Resources Control Board slapped the fine on the Byron Bethany Irrigation District last summer for continuing to divert supplies after the board ordered senior rights holders to stop river and stream withdrawals.
Clouds need to condense around small particles called aerosols to form, and human aerosol pollution—primarily in the form of sulfuric acid—has made for cloudier skies. That’s why scientists have generally assumed Earth’s ancient skies were much sunnier than they are now. But today, three new studies show how naturally emitted gases from trees can also form the seed particles for clouds. The results not only point to a cloudier past, but they also indicate a potentially cooler future: If Earth’s climate is less sensitive to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, as the study suggests, future temperatures may not rise as quickly as predicted.
Humboldt County’s winter and early spring rainfall could intensify the spread of the pathogen that causes Sudden Oak Death (SOD) but the outcome won’t be known for another year or two.
And while new areas of SOD infection weren’t identified in aerial surveys last year, the pathogen continues to spread in existing areas and it’s uncertain that drought has had an effect due to Humboldt County’s numerous, wet “micro-climates.”
Each day in California an estimated 1.5 billion gallons (5.7 billion liters) of treated water are dumped into the ocean – that’s more than the amount of water needed to fill 2,270 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It’s the water that’s collected from the sinks, bathrooms and laundries in your home and delivered to municipal wastewater treatment facilities. But what if these billions of gallons of wastewater were further purified and put to use to help solve California’s water woes?
Last winter’s rain and snow didn’t come close to solving our water deficit, and we need to think outside the box.
State officials recently eased the reins on local water agencies when it comes to the drought mandate.
While the State Water Resources Control Board has decided to allow agencies like the Coachella Valley Water District – the desert’s largest – to decide for themselves how to conserve, it is imperative that regulators maintain a watchful eye as dry times continue.
New drought rules adopted last week by the state water board will allow the state’s 411 urban water suppliers to “self-certify” their available supplies and decide themselves what level of conservation to pursue.
Nervous investors, concerned about their nest eggs, will check the financial markets. Is the New York Stock Exchange up? What direction is the NASDAQ moving?
For people living in the American Southwest, water levels in reservoirs play the same role. And Lake Mead is the blue chip, the biggest, most consequential, most widely watched piece in the game. When water levels are up, spirits are unburdened. People are confident in their place in the desert.
