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Water Rights: Feds Could Place Burden on Las Vegas to Protect California Farms

/in , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Colton Lochhead

The federal government laid out a pair of options Tuesday to drastically cut water use along the Colorado River and keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell from crashing any further in the coming years.

One of the proposals would impose hefty cuts following a strict priority system, which would protect the California agricultural sector’s water rights while placing the heaviest burden on cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix, while the other proposal would share those reductions more proportionally across Nevada, Arizona and California.

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NOAA Issues El Niño Watch: What This Could Mean for California

/in , , /by /KTLAby Alix Martichoux

Move aside La Niña – it’s almost time for El Niño to take over.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center issued an “El Niño watch” Thursday morning, saying the climate pattern is expected to form sooner than previously anticipated.

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Opinion: Increasing Temperatures Increase California Flood Risk

/in , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

California was experiencing a series of major rain and snow storms in January when Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a 2023-24 state budget.

Tucked into one of the budget’s hundreds of pages of detail was this paragraph:

“San Joaquin Valley Flood Plain Restoration – A reduction of $40 million General Fund in 2023-24, which eliminates funding for this purpose.”

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California to Squander Record Rains, Snowpack in Deluge of Regulations, GOP Lawmakers Say

/in , /by /The Epoch Timesby John Haughey

California’s Central Valley constitutes 1 percent of the agricultural land in the United States yet it harvests nearly a quarter of the nation’s farmed products.

The 50-mile wide, 450-mile-long breadbasket is irrigated by an intricate series of river impoundments and canals that are regulated by federal and state agencies.

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Water Authority Supports Talks on Fed Draft Colorado River Proposal

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority supports a consensus-based approach for long-term solutions to water supply issues in the Colorado River Basin. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on April 11 released a draft environmental document that considers changes to near-term operations on the Colorado River, including potential reductions in water supplies for California and across the Lower Colorado River Basin.

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Feds Propose Cuts to California, Other States’ Water Supply From Colorado River

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Elizabeth Ireland

Southern California and the state as a whole could see dramatic reductions in allocations of Colorado River water under proposals released Tuesday by the federal government aimed at protecting a system that provides water to 40 million people in multiple states along with critical agricultural irrigation.

The river also provides hydroelectric power to millions of customers, generated by dams at Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

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California Braces for Historic Snowmelt After Record-Breaking Winter

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson

In what is expected to be one of the biggest snowmelt events in its history, California could see some 277 billion gallons of water flowing from the Sierra during the month of May alone.

Experts said Tuesday that the state’s biggest snow year since 1950 could result in a dangerous spring, as warming temperatures push high volumes of snowmelt downstream.

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Interior Offers Extremes on Colorado River Cuts to Spur Compromise

/in , /by /E&E News by Jennifer Yachnin

The Interior Department on Tuesday shared its proposal for expected cuts to Colorado River water allocations but acknowledged that the most extreme options — including a plan that would slash water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada — are unlikely to be included in a final decision this summer.

Instead, agency officials presented their emergency plan — which includes contrasting proposals that would either force California to forfeit a significant portion of its flows or concentrate the pain of cuts on Arizona and Nevada — as a set of “bookends” to motivate state officials to collaborate.

“I would not think about either of these three alternatives as something we’re asking people to choose, but rather, they’re models and alternatives and ways of defining the problem,” said Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, referring to an update of the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines.

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Why California Can’t Catch a Break

/in , , /by /The Atlanticby Caroline Mimbs Nyce

This winter, storm after storm after storm dumped rain and snow on California, and now, as the spring poppies bloom, the state is lush. Hillsides once prickly with dry vegetation have softened. Ski resorts, once thawed out and closed by late spring, are buried under record snow and planning to stay open into July. Satellite photos show a state transformed from brown to green, streaked from top to bottom with bright-emerald patches.

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U.S. Presents Proposals for Major Water Cuts on Colorado River

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

The federal government on Tuesday laid out two options for preventing the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs from falling to critically low levels, saying it could either impose cuts across the Southwest by following the water-rights priority system or by using an across-the-board percentage.

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