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

Obama Calls for Proactive Drought Strategy. What Would That Look Like?

While on his three-day trip to Cuba, President Obama released an action plan on Monday to help the federal government proactively deal with drought, which affects one-eighth of the continental US population, mostly in the West.

In a memorandum and accompanying action plan, Mr. Obama’s administration outlined his goals for the federal government to help the country prevent and cope with drought, which scientists expect will worsen with changing climate conditions.

Video: Did El Niño live up to its expectations? KRON asks the experts

With storms calming down, does that mean El Niño is over? KRON’s Justine Waldman asked the experts on Monday to get some answers.

All models indicate that El Niño is weakening. Bay Area residents took out their umbrellas, wore rain boots, and packed in the sandbags–all to prepare for the pounding rains. Experts predicted a strong El Niño, or warming in the Pacific Ocean, that would bring some drought-busting rain to California.

Recycled Water System to be put to Test at Development Near Tracy

Occupants of 11,000 new single-family houses under construction near Tracy will be able to recycle their shower, bath, laundry and sink water on site using a system designed by Australian water engineers, one of dozens of new water technologies the White House will showcase at its big “water summit” Tuesday.

Hoping to leapfrog a Congress still trying to wring more water out of California’s over-drafted rivers, the Obama administration wants to replicate for water the push it made on solar power nearly eight years ago to jump start new technologies and coordinate the federal response to droughts.

Obama Seeks More Coordination on Dealing with Drought

President Barack Obama on Monday directed the federal government to come up with a less reactionary and more long-term strategy for dealing with drought.

 About 12.5 percent of the continental U.S. was experiencing drought as of mid-March, said Alice Hill, a key Obama aide on this issue.That translates into more than 39 million people, or about one-eighth of the U.S. population, living with drought in the lower 48 states, mostly in the West and with much of California suffering through its fifth year of dryness.

California Drought Continues, Despite March Deluge

No doubt — it’s been a great month for California.

A more favorable, wet El Niño pattern has finally kicked in after a pathetically dry February. Across the northern half of the state, major cities including San Francisco and Sacramento have already seen more rain in the first 10 days of March than they normally do in the entire month.

OPINION: Practical, Plus High-Tech Solutions Can Ease California’s Water Crisis

The impact of California’s water policies is far-reaching. More than just a question of the length of showers, they directly contribute to high unemployment and poverty. The solution to our water crisis can boost employment and reduce poverty – and it’s high time we get practical about it.

In the last 15 years, I have traveled to 54 of California’s 58 counties. It is heartbreaking to see the effects of our policies in places such as East Porterville, where residents go without water, or the divisions that these policies cause over property rights, reservoirs and dams.

OPINION: Tunnels Don’t Add Up, Now We Know Why

For years now, Gov. Jerry Brown has been telling us that he will save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – the greatest freshwater estuary on this side of the continent – by taking water out of it.

Environmental scientists have hustled out to make his case. Wildlife experts have joined the “Oyez” chorus. And state water managers insist it is our only option. Among the biggest and most enthusiastic backers is the largest irrigation district in the world, Westlands Water District, and the largest urban water supplier in the world, Metropolitan Water District.

 

Panel: El Niño Won’t Solve Water Woes

On a day that brought with it two inches of rain in Wofford Heights and a quarter inch of rain at Meadows Field, experts gathered to discuss the effect El Niño will have on Kern County this year.

 

The “El Niño: Miracle or Just Mediocre” discussion was held Tuesday by the Water Association of Kern County, along with KBAK.

OPINION: Hopes Rise as Winter Rain Brings Green Spring

The National Weather Service distributed a remarkable photo the other day – a satellite view of California showing just how green it has become after heavy winter rains.

The occasion was St. Patrick’s Day, but the photo’s true meaning was the vernal equinox’s age-old promise of renewal. California is green again, except for its deserts and its snow-covered mountains, and its reservoirs are, for the first time in years, holding healthy amounts of water – so much, in fact, that releases are being increased to make room for melting snow.

Decision Time for California Governor’s Big Water Project

Atop a dirt levee his great-grandfather built in the 1800s to hold back California’s mightiest river, Northern California farmer Russell van Loben Sels looks out over the site of a new water project, one that would be the state’s most ambitious in a half-century.

Promoted by Gov. Jerry Brown, the $15.7 billion project would run giant twin pipes, each four stories high, underground for 35 miles and eventually pull thousands of gallons of water a second from the stretch along the Sacramento River where van Loben Sels farms to cities and farms to the south.