People in Chico are seeing higher water bills this summer. It’s a combination of higher water and sewer rates. Starting in July the current combined bill must be paid separately. Cal Water implemented a four percent interim rate increase on May 5. Chico Cal Water District Manager Evan Markey said the final rate increase has been delayed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
The City of Monterey says they are worried there won’t be enough water by the time over 36 hundred housing units are expected to be developed across the city. The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District says thanks to the expansion of a project, there will be more than enough waterways before the housing is developed.
Bills in the state Legislature would give increased authority to the California State Water Resources Control Board and could impact historic water rights and threaten water supplies for farming. Dangerous water rights reform bills that put the interests of the few over the interests of the many are moving through the California Legislature.
A stretch of unusually wet months has erased drought across much of the Southwest. A briefing by climate experts spelled out how a snowy winter and rainy spring brought relief to a particularly parched region.
“Unlike some past presentations I’ve given for the Southwest,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, “This one actually has some good news in it.”
It’s gone by several names: Peripheral Canal, Water Fix and Delta Conveyance.
Its design has changed several times, from a canal to twin tunnels and most recently a single tunnel.
However, its purpose has been unchanged for seven decades – bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as water is moved from Northern California to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California homes.
California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed on a $310.8 billion budget deal Monday, a compromise reached by dropping the governor’s proposal to move forward with a 45-mile Delta water tunnel that would pump water from the Sacramento River to other parts of the state.
Legislators released a series of bills Saturday and Sunday showing the broad outlines of a spending plan that includes more money for public transit, child care, prison reform and Medi-Cal. The measures also reflected the challenges of closing the state’s estimated $31.5 billion budget gap.
Arizona cities and other entities could serve nearly 2 million households for a year with the amount of water they plan to voluntarily leave behind in the Colorado River the next three years, but they say they’re foregoing the supply to help preserve the reservoirs’ health.
A national flood assessment tool could be out of date. A new study says this tool is not taking into account how many more severe events are happening because of climate change and how new construction could be at a higher risk.
It won’t be long before snow melt from the Sierra fills our two local lakes, Pine Flat and Millerton. It’s a sight to behold. Two lakes in central California with water almost to the top. Millerton Lake at 84% capacity of 500,000 acre-feet.
Much has been written on potential effects and adaptations for California’s water supply from climate warming, particularly from changes in snowpack accumulation and melting, sea level rise, and possible overall drying or wetting trends. But what about floods?
