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California Finds Itself Isolated, Alone in Battle Over Colorado River Water Cuts

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

After a key deadline passed this week without an agreement on how to address the Colorado River’s crisis, California is now sharply at odds with six other states over how to take less water from the shrinking river.

Now that California has rejected a plan offered by the rest of the region, the state has entered a political tug-of-war with high stakes. So why has the state that uses the most Colorado River water decided to go it alone?

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Recent Rains Are ‘Nowhere Near’ What California Might See in the Future, Climate Expert Says

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jack Lee

The atmospheric rivers that pummeled California are a far cry from what a series of extreme storms could potentially bring, climate scientist Daniel Swain said at a legislative hearing on Wednesday that explored the impacts of the recent storm sequence.

“We’re nowhere near the kinds of events that we think are possible in a warming climate,” said Swain, a researcher at UCLA and The Nature Conservancy.

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Despite an ‘Incredible’ Snowpack, Drought Not Over in California

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

California may celebrate having double the expected snowpack after a string of atmospheric river storms, but state water experts warn that more needs to come to offset years of record-breaking drought.

At the season’s second monthly snowpack survey conducted Wednesday at Phillips Station — at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road — the California Department of Water Resources measured current snow depths and water content.

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California Has Huge Snowpack, but Dry Trend Raises Worries

/in , , /by /AP Newsby John Antczak

The mountain snowpack that supplies a significant amount of California’s water got an incredible boost from recent powerful storms and is outpacing the state’s wettest season on record, state water officials said Wednesday.

But its too soon to know if the winter will be a drought-buster, they said.

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Monthly Reservoir Report for February 2

/in , /by /Maven's Notebookby Robert Shibatani

The New Year’s Atmospheric River storms of 2023 have abated and catchments across the State are draining as exemplified by continuing baseflows through their hydrograph recession limbs.  River flows are still elevated, but releases have been incrementally curtailed and stage levels continue to drop.

Despite early positive signs, however, the reality of what this storm (or series of storms) brought in terms of drought relief is made eminently clear by reviewing various data sources.

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California Water Agencies Submit Colorado River Modeling Framework to Bureau of Reclamation

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

California water agencies that rely on the Colorado River today proposed a modeling framework for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to evaluate as it considers actions to help stabilize reservoir elevations and protect critical infrastructure to ensure the Colorado River system can continue to support 40 million people, nearly 6 million acres of agriculture, and Tribes across seven states and portions of Mexico.

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California Fires Back at Other Western States With Its Own Colorado River Plan

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Dueling plans for how to save the fast-drying Colorado River have been submitted by California and six other states to federal authorities, who have made clear they may impose draconian cuts if consensus is not reached regionally on deep reductions. That agreement could be hard to come by.

California swung hard at six other Western states late Tuesday, submitting its own proposal for more than 3 million acre feet in reductions — both from current and future agreements — if necessary from the river’s dwindling reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

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California Releases Its Own Plan for Colorado River Cuts

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Kathleen Ronayne and Suman Naishadham

California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal.

In a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California described how states could conserve between 1 million and nearly 2 million acre feet of water through new cuts based on the elevation of Lake Mead, a key reservoir.

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Sierra Nevada Snowpack Hits Biggest Level in Nearly 30 Years

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply — is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Not since Toy Story packed movie theaters, Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Super Bowl win, and gasoline cost $1.28 a gallon has there been so much snow in California’s most famous mountain range at the end of January.

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Colorado’s Wet Winter is a Drop in the Drought Bucket

/in , /by /Axios Denverby Alayna Alvarez

The heavy snow blanketing the Rocky Mountains this winter is a welcome respite for the shrinking Colorado River.

Yes, but: Climate experts say it still falls short from saturating the state’s drought-ridden reservoirs.

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