The heavens have opened up this winter and are dumping gobs of snow on the Sierra Nevada.
The snowpack in the Sierra contains more water than any year since 2011 on this date, according to the California Department of Water Resources. It’s a good sign, but no guarantee that the four-year drought that has left the Golden State high and dry is coming to an end, officials said.
El Niño is currently a welcoming sight for water conservation efforts, despite the potential for flooding and mudslides as California enters what may be its fifth year of the worst drought in state history.
This year’s current El Niño system has tied with a system from 1997 as the strongest on record, with wetter conditions for California from January to March, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
At a local nursery this past fall, I was excited to find a robust selection of water-wise plants, a reflection of this rapidly expanding market. Another interesting phenomenon, related to me by a nursery employee, was a little less exciting: “Customers come in asking for drought-tolerant plants, but change their minds when they see them.” Such news breaks the hearts of Mediterranean garden geeks like me who wish everyone could appreciate the unique beauty of water-wise plants.
A California water official said Friday farmers are not optimistic about their chances of getting water from the government this year, despite a strong El Nino hammering the state with rainfall.
Deputy General Manager of the Westlands Water District Johnny Amaral told reporters federal authorities don’t expect surface water in his district any time soon. The message is bound to stifle San Joaquin Valley farms, most of which receive the bulk of their water from Westlands.
El Nino 2016 has arrived but much of the rain water that southern Californians were hoping would ease the water crisis has gone to waste.
Heavy downpours earlier this month saw almost an inch and a half of rain falling at LAX – a new daily record. And this is just the beginning – warmer than usual ocean temperatures mean this El Nino is set to top the big one of 1997.
Water providers are feeling the squeeze.
The drought, rising populations, and environmental concerns are pushing agencies to move toward what, for most, was unthinkable decades before: pushing sewer water into the tap.
While health officials in California, and elsewhere, work out the details, water consortiums are moving on the process to make this new tap water source a reality.
California’s Orange County Water District took ‘reuse and reduce’ to a whole new level with its ground-breaking work in recycling used water. Its general manager Michael R. Markus shares his insights on the organisation’s decades-long journey in protecting the region’s water basin and ensuring water security for millions, efforts that helped it win the 2014 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize.
In preparation for the initial 2016 water supply allocation announcement later this winter, the Bureau of Reclamation is providing an update on water supply conditions for the federal Central Valley Project (CVP). The water year (WY) runs from October 1 to September 30; the contract year for most CVP contractors runs from March 1 to February 28.
California’s current drought crisis isn’t going away any time soon, and state authorities have cast their nets far and wide looking for any way of conserving what little water they have left. Now California Governor Jerry Brown has unveiled new details of a plan for two huge pipes, powered by gravity, to improve the flow of water around the Sunshine State.
The major infrastructure project is called the California Water Fix, and it turns the current system on its head.
Forget about selfies. In California, residents are using smartphones and drones to document the coastline’s changing face.
Starting this month, The Nature Conservancy is asking tech junkies to capture the flooding and coastal erosion that come with El Nino, a weather pattern that’s bringing California its wettest winter in years — and all in the name of science.
