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Beyond the Yuck Factor: Cities Turn to ‘Extreme’ Water Recycling

/in , , /by /Yale 360by Jim Robbins

In downtown San Francisco, in a cavernous garage that was once a Honda dealership, a gleaming white-and-blue appliance about the size of a commercial refrigerator is being prepared for transport to a hotel in Los Angeles.

There, this unit, called a OneWater System, will be installed in the basement, where its collection of pipes will take in much of the hotel’s graywater — from sinks, showers, and laundry. The system will clean the water with membrane filtration, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, and then send it back upstairs to be used again for nonpotable uses.

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‘Improvised, Spotty and Belated’: Will California Reform Its Oversight of Water Rights?

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

California’s complex system of water rights took shape starting in the mid-1800s, when settlers saw the state’s water as abundant and free for the taking — a time when a Gold Rush prospector could stake claim to river flows simply by nailing a notice to a tree.

Today, California’s oldest and most senior water rights — called riparian and pre-1914 rights — have been passed along to thousands of agricultural landowners, irrigation districts and urban water suppliers that claim control of roughly one-third of the water that is diverted from the state’s rivers and streams.

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‘Climate Whiplash’ is the New Normal for California, Experts Say

/in , , /by /Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Spengemen and Elise Osenga

Summer is approaching in California, and warmer temperatures have been melting the massive snowpack dumped on the state over the winter. Several swimmers and kayakers drowned this spring as rivers flooded and raged. The National Park Service took the rare step of closing much of Yosemite National Park’s scenic valley for several days to protect hikers and campers from floods. In April, California snowpack was at 237% of the average.

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California’s Major Reservoirs Remain Nearly Full Heading Into Summer

/in , , /by /FOX 40by Matthew Nobert

This will be the first time in several years that California will enter summer with the majority of its reservoirs at or over 90 percent of total capacity, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources.

As of Saturday, Shasta, Oroville, Folsom, New Bullards Bar, San Luis, Castaic and Cachuma reservoirs are over 90 percent of their total capacity and in the case of Shasta and Oroville are less than 5 percent away from being full.

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Snowpack Buys Utah’s Water Supply Some Time but Planning for a Drier Future is Key

/in , , /by /KUER 90.1by Saige Miller

The high Utah mountains gained 30 inches of water this winter, compared to 12 inches the year before. That amount of water in one season has done wonders for Utah’s ongoing drought.

“This time last year, about 99% of the state was in severe drought,” said Laura Haskell, the drought coordinator with the Utah Division of Water Resources. “So we have just about 14% [that] is in the moderate drought category. And that’s it.”

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Bill to Create Salton Sea Conservancy Moves Forward in State Legislature

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

Legislation introduced by Sen. Steve Padilla of San Diego to create the Salton Sea Conservancy moved forward this week with a unanimous vote in the state Senate.

Senate Bill 583 would create a new state agency to unify California’s efforts to expedite preservation, protect residents’ health, and foster ecological recovery of the shrinking sea.

“The environmental calamity at the Salton Sea is decades in the making,” said Padilla. “It is going to take unprecedented collaboration at all levels of governmental to adequately address this challenge.”

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Legislation to Curb Water Use for Irrigation Clears California Assembly

/in , , /by /Spectrum News 1by Susan Carpenter

A pair of California bills aimed at curbing water use for landscaping has cleared the California State Assembly.

On Wednesday, AB 1573, which requires the use of California native plants, and AB 1572, banning the use of potable water for irrigation on non-functional turf, passed onto the Senate.

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Opinion: No Time to Waste for Government to Protect Drought-Stricken West

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Sun

For decades, Western cities like Las Vegas and Tucson, Ariz., have embraced water conservation and recycling as a means of preparing for a multidecade drought like the one we’re experiencing. Despite our best efforts, our neighbors in Southern California, Northern Arizona and Utah have not always followed our lead. Cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles and St. George, Utah, have been allowed to grow at an explosive pace with little planning for where water would come from or how long the supply would last.

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High-Tech Mapping of Central Valley’s Underground Blazes Path to Drought Resilience

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundationby Nick Cahill

A new underground mapping technology that reveals the best spots for storing surplus water in California’s Central Valley is providing a big boost to the state’s most groundwater-dependent communities.

The maps provided by the California Department of Water Resources for the first time pinpoint paleo valleys and similar prime underground storage zones traditionally found with some guesswork by drilling exploratory wells and other more time-consuming manual methods.

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Dramatic Weather Swings Are Headed to California. Here’s What to Expect in June

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicle by Gerry Diaz

The curling of the jet stream — an atmospheric stream of fast-moving air with speeds over 100 mph that travels thousands of miles — over the Pacific Ocean has triggered recent shifts in California’s spring weather patterns. Californians have seen leaps from snowmelt-inducing heat waves in the Sierra Nevada to marine layer clouds that stretch from the Bay Area to Sacramento.

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