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Spurning dams for research in water technology, President Obama laid out a striking contrast Tuesday to the strategies adopted by California lawmakers in both parties on how to remedy Western water shortages.

In a final budget plan that was dead even before its arrival on Capitol Hill, the administration’s vision of investing $269 million in research on water desalination, recycling and efficiency will find little traction in the Republican-controlled Congress. But it does lay out an alternative to the dams, water tunnels and other giant building projects that Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Central Valley House Republicans have embraced to varying degrees.

Water flows into Lake Oroville Tuesday from a pipe at the Nelson Bar Day Use Area. Although rainfall stopped with the coming of February, the lake continues to rise as snow in the mountains melts. The Department of Water Resources reports the lake has added almost 116,000 acre-feet in February, and the water level is up almost 17 feet, but the snowpack in the mountains above the lake is down from 122 percent of normal to 109 percent of normal in the same period. Bill Husa — Mercury-Register

Calling an appeal between California environmentalists and federal agencies over expired water contracts a “bizarre position,” a Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday encouraged the parties to mediate the issue instead.

“This case is in a bizarre position – we’re dealing with 2012 contracts that have already expired, we’re told there are new ones with new environmental assessments,” Circuit Judge Barry Silverman said. “On top of all that we have Mother Nature playing tricks with the drought.”

Any sign of precipitation in the forecast is a welcome sight for Californians these days. But with temperatures expected to be above normal this winter, California’s snowpack may not reach the heights it could.

Getting snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is crucial to the state’s water supply. But scientists say as the climate continues to warm, more precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow.

With several Bay Area reservoirs nearly full, at capacity or overflowing, you might think we’re in good water shape.  But, when it comes to the state’s really big reservoirs, which we depend on most— think again.

Majestic Mount Shasta’s huge crown of snow gleams in the sun. Fifty miles south, Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir by far, is only just over half full; but better than it was in the fall.