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.
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.
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.
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.
Gov. Jerry Brown wants to restructure California’s water system by building two massive underground tunnels to divert water to farms and cities in the south. But his administration faces strong opposition for the $15.7 billion project.
Expanding the use of recycled water would reduce water and energy use, cut greenhouse gas emissions and benefit public health in California—which is in the midst of a severe drought—and around the world.
Between 6 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday, nearly 2 inches of rain fell on downtown Modesto, according to Modesto Irrigation District monitoring equipment.
The “parade of storms,” as the National Weather Service put it, will impact Northern California through Tuesday and again Friday. The first entry caused a few scattered power failures, MID spokeswoman Melissa Williams said Monday. A crew was working Monday morning on K Street between 11th and 12th streets to restore power after a falling tree struck lines.
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.
“Thanks to many months of effort by residents and businesses, our region as a whole has saved enough water to meet the regional emergency conservation goal set by the State Water Resources Control Board,” said Mark Weston, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “That’s a tremendous achievement, when you consider our region already had decreased per-capita water use by 39 percent compared to 1990, and the record-setting heat we recently experienced. However, conservation must remain a priority as we look toward summer and peak irrigation months; people still need to comply with water-use restrictions set by their local water agencies.”
State water managers announced this week that 29 State Water Contractors will receive 45 percent of their requested water amounts this year.
Forty-five percent sounds like a glass half full, but the news was cause for celebration for water districts that saw only 20 percent of their water request last year, and 5 percent in 2014. The State Water Project distributes water from Lake Oroville via the Feather River. The 29 agencies provide water to 26 million people in urban areas, as well as 750,000 acres of farmland, a press release from the Department of Water Resources states.
