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A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short

/in , , /by /The New York Times by Dionne Searcey and Delger Erdenesanaa

America’s stewardship of one of its most precious resources, groundwater, relies on a patchwork of state and local rules so lax and outdated that in many places oversight is all but nonexistent, a New York Times analysis has found.

The majority of states don’t know how many wells they have, the analysis revealed. Many have incomplete records of older wells, including some that pump large volumes of water, and many states don’t register the millions of household wells that dot the country.

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Expanded Drought.gov Tool Visualizes Historical Drought Conditions by County, State

/in , , /by /Drought.gov

The “Dust Bowl” drought of the 1930s brought nearly a decade of dry conditions to the Great Plains, causing many farmers to flee their lands and livelihoods. Looking further back, tree-ring and lake-sediment records indicate that “megadroughts” have occurred in North America over the last thousand years. By looking back at historical data, communities can get a better understanding of how current droughts compare to past events and drought and extreme weather threats to be prepared for.

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Opinion: Lake Mead Has a 1-in-4 Chance of Going Low Again by 2026, if We Don’t Do More Now

/in , /by /AZ Central by Joanna Allhands

Now that we’re knee-deep in the long-term process to save the Colorado River, almost no one is asking whether we’ve done enough to stabilize it for the next few years.

A wet winter and billions of dollars in funding already solved that problem, right?

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Summit Tackles Water Challenges Facing California

/in , , /by /Ag Alert by Christine Souza

Below-average precipitation and snowpack during 2020-22 and depleted surface and groundwater supplies pushed California into a drought emergency that brought curtailment orders and calls for modernizing water rights.

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A River Runs Through Bakersfield? Judge Rules the Kern River Must Be Allowed to Flow

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Environmental activists in Bakersfield have won an initial victory in their legal fight to keep water flowing in the Kern River, which for many years was reduced to a dry, sandy riverbed.

A judge has granted a preliminary injunction preventing water diversions that would dry up the river, requiring sufficient water to provide for fish and keep the Kern flowing in the city.

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House Passes Legislation to Improve Water Shortages in Colorado, Southwest Region

/in , , /by /The Durango Herald by Weslan Hansen

The United States House of Representatives passed two amendments this past Thursday that would provide $5 million in funding to water projects in Colorado and the Southwest.

The amendments, introduced by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, added to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act redirect funding from the Department of Energy’s Departmental Administration Account to the Colorado River Storage Project and Colorado River Dam Fund.

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Congress Makes Urgent Call for Central Valley Water Infrastructure Repairs

/in , /by /KVPRby Kerry Klein

A bipartisan congressional delegation led by California Democrat Senator Alex Padilla and Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa on Tuesday sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urging them to prioritize “critical emergency repairs” to levees in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds.

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Californians With Past-Due Water Bills Can Get Help With Payments. Here’s How

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Karen Garcia

Low-income Los Angeles County residents who are behind on their utility payments have a chance at keeping the water on, with a federally funded program that has been extended through March.

The Low Income Household Water Assistance Program, administered by the California Department of Community Services and Development, was established by Congress in December 2020 as a one-time support to help low-income Californians pay past-due or current bills for water, sewer or both services.

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What the Fed’s New Proposal for Management of Colorado River Reservoirs Means

/in , , /by /High Country Newsby Brooke Larsen

Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation released an updated proposal for the near-term management of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Its revised draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) includes a proposal crafted by the Lower Colorado River Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — that commits to conserving 3 million acre-feet of water through the end of 2026.

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The Water Wars Deciding the Future of the West

/in , , /by /The New Republic by Kyle Paoletta

On the eastern flank of metropolitan Las Vegas, out past a water park advertising “the world’s largest man-made wave” and a nascent development called Cadence, a red-dirt parking lot teases public access to the system that enabled the past three decades of growth in southern Nevada. Called the Las Vegas Wash, it amounts to a channel that funnels the area’s recycled water back to its aquatic lifeline: Lake Mead.

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