As California continues to grapple with recurrent droughts and the impacts of climate change, Sonoma County is implementing innovative water conservation strategies to ensure water security and promote sustainability. By investing in wastewater recycling and rainwater harvesting initiatives, the county aims to build resilience and safeguard water resources for its residents and industries.
The federal government will send up to $233 million to the Gila River Indian Community for water conservation. The tribe is among the first to receive federal payouts as part of a program to incentivize water cutbacks in Arizona, California and Nevada. Those three states make up the Colorado River’s Lower Basin, where water use remains steady in spite of shrinking reserves.
It’s snowing today in the central Colorado Rockies, likely the last hurrah for a year to remember for everyone who depends on water from the Colorado River — including Las Vegas.
It’s just past the early April peak when scientists calculate the final snowpack levels for the year. Today, that measurement hit 160% of normal, just above where it was a week ago.
Despite recent water levels exceeding expectations, Lake Mead is forecast to drop back down to a record low level by the end of the month.
As of Monday, Lake Mead’s water level was at 1,045.91 feet above sea level, almost 3 feet above the level of 1,043.06 feet predicted in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s “Most Probable 24-Month Study,” released at the start of March.
Over the course of two days, the Biden administration announced it would give the state more than $690 million for water projects this year.
On Tuesday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency said it would send California more than $391 million to improve its drinking water infrastructure this year.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it would allocate $300 million to 24 projects for water delivery, storage and electricity in California.
Water levels fell so low in key reservoirs during the depth of California’s drought that boat docks sat on dry, cracked land and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom Lake.
Those scenes are no more after a series of powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow across California, replenishing reservoirs and bringing an end — mostly — to the state’s three-year drought.
Pismo Beach joined a local desalination feasibility study, completing the San Luis Obispo County-wide bandwagon to identify long-term water supply sources.
The last to participate, the Pismo Beach City Council agreed on April 4 to support county efforts in the face of exiting two historic droughts and an uncharacteristically wet winter season, the flood control and water conservation district naming water resiliency as a high priority, and the Central Coast Blue project nearing realization.
Fixed pipes. Better pumps, turbines and motors. New bypass channels. Repaired fish ladders. Refurbished valves.
To improve California’s water infrastructure, more than $307 million of needed upgrades like those are included in staggeringly long to-do list of new public works projects throughout the West that will receive federal funding, Biden Administration officials announced on Wednesday.
The decision comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the statewide 15% water savings mandate.
Although several water restrictions have been lifted, officials said they still don’t want to see water wasters in the city.
They urge people not to water more than three times a week, regardless of the conditions.
For most of California’s history, a record snowpack in the Sierra has been like money in the bank — filling reservoirs and keeping rivers healthy and flowing year-round. But in this era of climate change, there’s a real concern that some of that precious water could slip through our fingers.
“If we get a very warm rain, or a series of warm rains — if we get an extended period of warm weather, that’s going to trigger the snowmelt and the flooding potential for the river,” said Central Valley rancher Don Cameron.
