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A California Tunnel Could Save Stormwater for Millions. Why is It So Divisive?

/in , /by /The Washington Postby Scott Dance

As drought-weary Californians watched trillions of gallons of runoff wash into the Pacific Ocean during recent storms, it underscored a nagging question: Why can’t we save more of that water for not-so-rainy days to come?

But even the rare opportunity to stock up on the precious resource isn’t proving enough to unite a state divided on a contentious idea to siphon water from the north and tunnel it southward, an attempt to combat the Southwest’s worst drought in more than a millennium.

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‘Weather Chaos’ Brings Enough Snow to Fill Verde River Reservoirs, Ease Drought Conditions

/in , /by /AZ Centralby Brandon Loomis

Meteorologist Bo Svoma hopped down into the 4-foot-deep pit he had shoveled and grinned like a school kid on a snow day.

“Bo is happy!” shouted one of his Salt River Project colleagues working snow survey duty on Tuesday.

There’s a lot for the metro Phoenix water supplier to be happy about this winter. What was supposed to be an unusually dry winter because of the return of the ocean and atmospheric phenomenon known as La Nińa has instead shaped up as the Arizona rim country’s second-snowiest season in 30 years.

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Metropolitan Hires Brown and Caldwell for Drought Study

/in , /by /Water Finance and Management

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan or MWD) has hired Brown and Caldwell to study alternative water conveyance options to provide supply diversity to the region during severe droughts.

MWD’s mission is to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for the 19 million people in Southern California in the face of climate change and extended drought.

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Is California’s Drought Finally Over? Here’s the Impact of the Latest Storms

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

If there’s concern about California’s wet winter turning dry, consider it shushed.

The heaps of snow over the past week on top of the parade of deluges in early January have been extraordinary and left much of the state with well-above-average precipitation for the season. The winter storms, which account for the bulk of the state’s rain and snow, are forecast to continue into next month, virtually ensuring a good water year for California.

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‘A Nice Sign’: Big Rockies Snowpack May Boost Lake Mead

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

It’s not even March yet, but the mountains that feed the Colorado River already have seen more snow this winter than they normally would through an entire snow season.

And with some snow in the forecast, there’s still more time for that snowpack to grow.

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Will Colorado River Return to Health This Year? Snowpack Remains a Third Above Normal

/in , , /by /8 News Nowby Greg Haas

February snowfall might have fallen behind January’s brisk pace, but the Upper Colorado River Basin will go into March still well above average snowpack levels.

With all the headlines about snow in California and Utah, the area that matters most to the Las Vegas valley and Lake Mead is the region around the Colorado River’s headwaters — where the river is born among the peaks in and around Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Calif. Reservoir Levels Show Signs of Improvement After Recent Winter Storms

/in , , /by /ABC 7 by Zach Fuentes

All of this rain in California has had positive impacts on some of the state’s main reservoirs. Though officials say reservoir levels have seen major improvements, we’re not out of the drought yet.

“California, statewide is at 131% of average precipitation,” said Jeanine Jones, interstate resources manager for the California Department of Water Resources, “What that means is that a lot of our reservoirs have had the opportunity to improve significantly, compared to last year or the year before. Most of our reservoirs are fairly close to full.”

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Colorado Conflicted About Cutting Its Water Use

/in , /by /Lake Powell Chronicleby Dave Marston

Not everyone is a fan, including Andy Mueller, director of the Colorado River District. He doesn’t like programs that pay farmers to stop farming. Mueller also didn’t ask for the Inflation Reduction Act’s $125 million to pay the farmers he represents. Mueller’s organization exists to keep Western Colorado’s rural water away from growing cities across the Rockies.

State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, who chairs the Committee for Agriculture and Natural Resources, has a more nuanced view.

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Opinion: Solving the Worsening Drought in the Western States Will Require All of Us Working Together

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein

For Californians, drought has been a constant and inescapable fact of life for decades. Worsening drought in the Western United States is just one of the many life-threatening impacts of the climate crisis. And as drying conditions bring water reservoirs along the Colorado River to dangerously low levels, the impact of extended drought conditions is now threatening 40 million Americans’ access to water — unless we can come up with a plan to protect it.

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This Reservoir on the Sacramento River Has Been Planned for Decades. What’s Taking So Long?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alastair Bland

Last century, California built dozens of large dams, creating the elaborate reservoir system that supplies the bulk of the state’s drinking and irrigation water. Now state officials and supporters are ready to build the next one.

The Sites Reservoir — planned in a remote corner of the western Sacramento Valley for at least 40 years — has been gaining steam and support since 2014, when voters approved Prop. 1, a water bond that authorized $2.7 billion for new storage projects.

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