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How Do You Track an Atmospheric River? Climb Aboard This Highflying Reconnaissance Jet

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

The interior of the plane looked like a cross between a private luxury jet and a space mission control room.

The Gulfstream IV cruised at 43,000 feet, high above a seemingly peaceful layer of thick clouds that stretched to the horizon.

Crew members in blue jumpsuits stared at computer screens that revealed their hidden target miles below: a powerful atmospheric river that was churning across the Pacific Ocean toward California, bearing torrential rains and fierce winds.

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States Miss Deadline to Address Colorado River Water Crisis, Pressure Builds on California

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

The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a Jan. 31 federal deadline for reaching a regionwide consensus on how to sharply reduce water use, raising the likelihood of more friction as the West grapples with how to take less supplies from the shrinking river.

In a bid to sway the process after contentious negotiations reached an impasse, six of the seven states gave the federal government a last-minute proposal outlining possible water cuts to help prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels, presenting a unified front while leaving out California, which uses the single largest share of the river.

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New York Investors Snapping Up Colorado River Water Rights, Betting Big on an Increasingly Scarce Resource

/in , , /by /CBS Newsby Ben Tracy, Andy Bast, and Chris Spinder

With the federal government poised to force Western states to change how they manage the alarming shortfall in Colorado River water, there is one constituency with a growing interest in the river’s fate that’s little known to some: Wall Street investors.

Private investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West: water in the Colorado River, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel has found. For some of the farmers and cities that depend on the river as a lifeline, that interest is concerning. 

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Drenched by Higher-Than-Normal Rain, Lake Shasta Water Level Rises 60 Feet During January

/in , /by /Record Searchlightby Damon Arthur

Higher-than-normal rainfall during the past month has dramatically changed Lake Shasta, with the water level of California’s largest reservoir rising 60 feet since the end of December.

Gone are vast areas of shoreline that became parking lots and campgrounds as the lake dried up and the water level dropped during the past several years of low rainfall in the North State.

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The River’s End: Amid Colorado Water Cuts, Mexico Seeks to Restore Its Lost Oasis

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

When the Colorado River reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, it pushes up against Morelos Dam. Nearly all the remaining water is shunted aside into an immense canal and flows toward the farmlands and cities of Baja California.

South of the dam, the last of the river disappears in the desert.

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How Much Water Flows From the Sierra to the Central Valley? NASA Reveals

/in , , /by /yourcentralvalley.comby Marcela Chavez

Experts from NASA say a previously unmeasured underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water that enters the highly-productive Central Valley farmland each year.

The NASA study shows an average of four million acre-feet of water is delivered through the soil and fractured rocks under California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to the Central Valley annually.

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A Showdown Over Colorado River Water is Setting the Stage for a High-Stakes Legal Battle

/in , , /by /CNNby Ella Nilsen

Months of bitter negotiations between seven states that rely on the Colorado River’s vanishing water have collapsed along a clear fault line over the past week: California versus everyone else.

The multi-state talks, which have been ongoing in fits and starts for months, were focused on achieving unprecedented water cuts to save the Colorado River – a system that provides water and electricity to more than 40 million people in the West.

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California is Lone Holdout in Colorado River Cuts Proposal

/in , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca and Suman Naishadham

Six Western states that rely on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to dramatically cut water use in the basin, months after the federal government called for action and an initial deadline passed.

California — with the largest allocation of water from the river — is the lone holdout. Officials said the state would release its own plan.

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In the West, Pressure to Count Water Lost to Evaporation

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Suman Naishadham

Exposed to the beating sun and hot dry air, more than 10% of the water carried by the Colorado River evaporates, leaks or spills as the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) powerhouse of the West flows through the region’s dams, reservoirs and open-air canals.

For decades, key stewards of the river have ignored the massive water loss, instead allocating Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico their share of the river without subtracting what’s evaporated.

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State Approves Sustainability Plans for Major North Bay Groundwater Basins

/in , , /by /Northern California Public Mediaby Kiley Russell
Plans for ensuring the long-term viability of four major groundwater basins in the North Bay were approved Thursday by state water regulators.
The State Department of Water Resources announced that it gave the okay to plans developed for the Napa Valley Subbasin in Napa County and the Santa Rosa Plain Subbasin, the Petaluma Valley Basin and Sonoma Valley Subbasin in Sonoma County.
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