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

OPINION: Linking Water Rights to the Train a Horrible Idea

As I write this opinion from my home in the Sacramento Valley, our rivers are at or near flood stage and the reservoirs are continuing to fill. The bad news is that the water not being captured in our reservoir system is mostly blowing out under the Golden Gate Bridge with little diverted south of the Delta.

Most of us who farm up here have state or federal contracts that are the basis of our water rights, which are an integral part of our land and its value.

Recent Storms Cause Problem for Drought Tolerant Plants

Recent rain has refilled reservoirs and replenished ground water, but it’s also created a new problem. The plants people bought to help conserve, don’t like all the extra water. March has been a very wet month. For those who tried to conserve water with drought tolerant plants, all the rain on the Central Coast may have done those plants in.

“Just a plant that saw way too much water. In the case of this bunching bamboo it’s not going to make it,”said Salinas Councilman, and owner of McShane’s Nursery, Steve McShane.

SWRO Water Declared ‘Drought-Resilient’

State regulators certified the water supply from the Carlsbad Desal Plant as drought-resilient, reducing the regional impacts of emergency water-use mandates the state imposed in June 2015. The State Water Resources Control Board’s certification lowers the regional aggregate water conservation goal from 20 percent to about 13 percent, though water-use targets will continue to vary by local water agency.

Vallecitos Water District, the only retail water provider with a direct connection to the Carlsbad plant, will have its conservation target dropped to 16 percent compared to its previously mandated 24 percent reduction in potable water use.

California Revives Cloud-Seeding Effort as El Nino Disappoints

Hopes that El Nino will end California’s drought are withering. It appears they’re being replaced with high hopes for the science of cloud-seeding.

Southern California in particular has been suffering from a lack of precipitation and now Los Angeles County officials are reviving its cloud-seeding program for $550,000 a year. The program was abandoned in 2009 – several years after it had last been used – apparently out of fear that too much rain would destabilize hillsides charred from wildfires. It was resurrected last year after the governor’s declaration of a water emergency.

Xylem Gets Contract for Underdrain at Plant Retrofit

Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District has commissioned Xylem as part of a project at its FE Weymouth Water Treatment Plant to retrofit biologically active filtration and ozone. Xylem will supply its Leopold Type XA underdrains with IMS 200 media retainers and Leopold dual media sand and anthracite to the 75-year-old plant which treats water from the Colorado River Aqueduct and the State Project Water (SPW) California Aqueduct.

March Storms in Calif. Could Boost CVP Water Deliveries

While they’re giving informal updates to water districts, federal water officials in California have put off announcing Central Valley Project allocations until they see what this month’s storms will bring.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Shane Hunt didn’t flinch when asked if the “March Miracle” of abundant rain and snow that many had hoped for is coming to fruition. He responded by noting that the agency’s eight weather stations along the Sacramento River in Northern California had received their average precipitation for the month by about March 9.

California ‘Ready for Recycled Water’

California residents are overwhelmingly supportive of using treated wastewater, or recycled water, in their everyday lives, according to a statewide survey released today by water technology provider Xylem. The survey defined recycled water as former wastewater that has been treated and purified so that it can be reused for drinking purposes.

The survey found that 76 percent of respondents believe recycled water should be used as a long-term solution for managing water resources, regardless of whether or not a water shortage continues.

Lake Oroville Passes Benchmark, Now Fuller Than Average

We’re average, and that’s good. Just before 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, the amount of water in Lake Oroville topped the 2,569,644 acre-feet that is the average storage for March 14, and that’s the first time in almost three years the lake has been where it’s supposed to be.

The lake water level was rising about a foot every 2 1/2 hours Monday, according to the Department of Water Resources website. More important, about 5,000 acre-feet of water was being added to the lake each hour, with inflow to the lake topping 60,000 cubic feet per second.

VIDEO: Water Agencies Aim to Get State Board to Ease Restrictions

Despite five spill gates open, Folsom Lake is rising once again and is nearly 70 percent full and Lake Shasta is nearly 80 percent full. Within weeks, the State Water Board will have to decide whether to ease tight water use restrictions.

13.1 Million US Coastal Residents Could Face Flooding Because of Rising Sea Levels

As many as 13.1 million people living along U.S. coastlines could face flooding by the end of the century because of rising sea levels, according to a new study that warns that large numbers of Americans could be forced to relocate to higher ground.

The estimated number of coastal dwellers affected by rising sea level is three times higher than previously projected, according to the study published Monday in the science journal Nature Climate Change.