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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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How the Winter Storm Could Impact California Reservoirs

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Pandora Dewan

Southern California is bracing for a cold winter storm this weekend that is expected to bring up to 5 feet of snow accumulation in certain areas.

While this forecast might curtail your outdoor weekend plans, it is excellent news for the state’s recovering water reservoirs.

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How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by James Dinneen

Between Christmas and January this year, a parade of nine atmospheric rivers — vast streams of water vapor flowing east from the tropical Pacific — pummeled California. The trillions of gallons of rain poured on the state caused widespread flooding. While the rain topped up some drought-depleted reservoirs and aquifers and filled out snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, much of the water quickly ran off into the sea, flowing off asphalt and farms or released from reservoirs to prevent further flooding.

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Cold Storm Brings Rain, Blizzard Warnings to California

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Robert Jablon

California and other parts of the West faced heavy snow and rain Friday from the latest winter storm to pound the U.S., while thousands of people in Michigan shivered through extended power outages wrought by one of the worst ice storms in decades.

The National Weather Service warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” that would last through Saturday in California.

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California Invests in Critical Central Valley Water Infrastructure Projects

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

California’s water authorities will spend $15 million in three crucial water management zones within the drought-ravaged southern Central Valley.

The hub of agricultural production in the Golden State, the Central Valley has also faced the most dire impacts from another historic drought, as thousands of wells went dry last year and many communities faced a total lack of safe drinking water.

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Opinion: Your Water Bill is Going to Go Up. Arizona Can’t Keep Ignoring This Fact

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Joanna Allhands

Water is going to get more expensive.

It’s a matter of supply and demand:

Clean, easily accessible water is dwindling across Arizona, while those who rely on it aren’t going anywhere. That means we’ll all pay more for the thing that no desert dweller can live without.

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California Farms, Cities to Get Big Jump in Water From Feds After Storms

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Tara Duggan

California farms and cities that get their water from the Central Valley Project are due to receive a large increase in water allocations this year after snowpack and reservoirs were replenished in winter storms, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced Wednesday.

Most recipients of the Central Valley Projects are irrigation districts that supply farms, and some are cities, including those served by the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Contra Costa Water District in the Bay Area.

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Opinion: Rains and Flooding Are Not Enough to Solve California’s Persistent Drought Problems

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Robin Epley

California’s reservoirs may be as full as they’ve been in years thanks to recent rainfall, but it’s still not enough water to meet the state’s demands — and it will never be if the state doesn’t invest in new ways to capture all that precious water.

Not enough of the state’s heavy rainfall is draining into California’s underground reservoirs to keep us sated, even through the next summer.

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